A PLAY inspired by the families of prison officers will be performed on Portland.

Absolute Theatre and IPACA will put on 'Quarters Kids' at the Borstal Officers Club and Governor's Community Garden next month.

The Grove Prison Museum will be open on both performance days, which are Friday, June 3 and Saturday, June 4.

Each day there will be a performance at 6pm and 7.30pm.

On Saturday there will be an additional performance at 4pm.

The production is being supported by Arts Council England, The Heritage Lottery Fund and the Morel Trust.

Peter Cann, a writer and director at Absolute Theatre, said: "Quarters Kids is made from the stories and experiences of real people from unique communities in The Borstal and The Verne that had their own identity and at the same time were an integral part of Portland from the 1950s to the 1980s."

Earlier this year Absolute Theatre put out a plea for relatives of Portland prisoner officers to get involved with the project.

As well as influencing the production, interviews collected will be archived as part of the Portland Stories project.

Peter said: "The interviews we have collected and the conversations we have had as part of the process of devising the performance have given us insights into the lives of children growing up in the prison quarters.

"Some stories are funny, others have a sense of isolation, others a consciousness of the difficult and sometimes dangerous job their dads were doing - an important job.

"Some of the young people performing in the production have relatives who worked or are still working in the prison service. The project is an illustration of how things have changed.

"The quarters have gone, barely a trace remains, the penal system and the prison service have changed."

Tickets are free from Cards 'n' Celebrations at Easton Shopping Centre. Alternatively, please call 07964271802.

HM Prison Portland originally opened in 1848 as an adult convict establishment. It became a Borstal in 1921 and then a Young Offenders Institution in 1988. In 2011, the prison became an adult/young offenders establishment.

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