
Inside Bitch
23
· New Writing
“You’ve seen Orange is the New Black. You’ve seen Locked Up. You’ve seen Bad Girls. So, what have we got that’s different? Well, for one, we’ve been to prison.”
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Overview
Created by women who aren’t second-guessing, Inside Bitch is a devised ensemble performance from Clean Break’s Members, a playful subversion of the representation of women in prison and how things aren’t quite as seen on TV.
“We’ve got the real shit, and trust me, it’s dark as fuck, and it will knock your socks off! “
Conceived by Stacey Gregg and Deborah Pearson, who both previously wrote for The Site Programme at the Royal Court, Inside Bitch is devised and performed by Clean Break Members Lucy Edkins, Jennifer Joseph, TerriAnn Oudjar and Jade Small. Clean Break and the Royal Court previously collaborated on 2014’s Pests.
Critic reviews
It’s just a shame that the quietest, clearest moments dotted throughout the piece are swallowed up by scenes that often come close to (unintentionally) unravelling
Brave, hilarious, yet very slender
Above all what the show succeeds in doing is making the women emerge as fully-rounded people. By the close, they are not defined by their experience of being in prison, but by their liveliness, their resilience, the sheer force of their personalities
A subversive and funny riposte to the way women's prisons are portrayed in popular culture
Verdict Exceptional comedy-drama about women in prison, made by women artists who have been to prison
I walk away feeling like I love these women. Their reverse striptease as they put on blinged-out turquoise boiler suits which as it turns out, none of them donned in prison
Women's jail tale gets lost in translation
Clean Break’s satirical look at the stereotypes around life in jail ends up undone by its own artifice
Clean Break are doing exceptional work: this is how applied theatre should be done