Lung’s acclaimed dance theatre show, Woodhill is coming to Lowry this October as part of its UK tour.
The production, written and directed by Lung co-director Matt Woodhead, is a powerful dance theatre work created with bereaved families affected by deaths in custody.
It reached the Lowry theatre from October 13-17 as part of a national campaign.
Woodhill is a dance theatre work created by Lowry partner company, Lung, which combines those verbatim accounts voiced by actors with choreography exposing the negligence and injustice embedded within the system.
Lung is a campaigning arts charity that shines a light on political, social and economic issues in modern Britain, using people’s words in their stories.
HMP Prison, Woodhill is a category B male prison in Milton Keynes which opened in 1992. Since, it has been repeatedly criticised by families, coroners and inquest juries.
The prison has one of the highest suicide rates in the UK and coroner’s reports have noted the jail has repeatedly failed to meet requirements of national policy on suicide and emergency response.
Helen Monks, co-director of Lung, said: “Woodhill began as a tribute to those who have taken their lives at HMP Woodhill. Now, it has become a call for accountability.”
Woodhill was originally co-produced with the North Wall in Oxford and premiered in 2023, winning multiple awards.
Lung campaigns alongside Woodhill families who directly inspired the decision to bring the show back on tour in response to the prison’s continued decline.
The Woodhill families said: “Our boys needed help, not punishment. They were given a prison sentence that turned into a death sentence.
“There is a crisis unfolding in our prisons. We are proud to be taking our story across the country and launching this national campaign. We will not stop until our voices are heard.”
Tickets are on sale for £13 at the Lowry box office.
