MISS, IT APPEARS WE HAVE HIT SOME TURBULENCE
A new podcast created by women in prison and post release
An insight into the lives and stories of women in custody at Melbourne’s maximum-security prison, Dame Phyllis Frost Centre
Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company has a 40-year history working with women in prison, which now extends to women post-release and marginalised young people. Through the arts – theatre, visual art, music, film – they work with the women to create high-quality theatre and pathways back into education and community.
18 women from 11 different cultural backgrounds contributed to Miss, It Appears We Have Hit Some Turbulence, working on character development, song and script revealing their own experiences and trials that led to incarceration.“In 2020 and 2021 like so many, in so many areas of life, COVID forced our hand. Somebody’s Daughter Theatre couldn’t devise new work with the women, nor could the prison invite live audiences to see the women perform. We had one window of time, one nine-hour day, to record Miss It Appears We’ve Hit Some Turbulence with the women in custody before Melbourne’s long stage four – six lockdowns. This podcast was our pivot. A way of bringing the voices of women inside – out,” said Kharen Harper, Co-Artistic Director.
Miss is Appears We’ve Hit Some Turbulence follows the journey of Matilda, a young Maori woman who ‘crash lands’ into prison. There, she finds the women around her, a lot like herself, looking for long lost parts of themselves. “My name is Miss-Understood I could have been anything, I really could…”
The work features the women’s recording of the play from inside prison with additional commentary from formerly incarcerated women, who have worked with Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company in prison and now post-release.
With refreshing candour, Cath, Kerri, Taasha, Katia and ‘Bernadette’ reflect on their experiences, giving of the themes in the play: prison life, domestic violence, drug use, cultural diversity, womanhood, childhood and trauma, a context. ‘Women don’t just magically end up in Jail…’
Episode 1: After years of searching for her identity, young Matilda crash lands into prison.
On the muster line she learns she is just a number, a ‘Miss’ whose made miss-takes like everyone else. ‘Hey Newbie, what’s your story? In here everyone’s got a story…’
Episode 2: Matilda is being shown around the compound, introduced to the colourful characters and the waiting game of being in jail: ‘Everything you do takes time, when you’re doin’ time…’
Episode 3: The characters find an outlet for their boredom and solidarity in planning the Harmony Day event. Phoenix reveals her story, echoed by others, underlining that many women who experience violence end up in prison…
Episode 4: Our characters get to sing, dance and celebrate – forgetting for a while that they are locked up. Matilda gets relief and release from the letter she has been waiting for:
‘Look at me, I am a daughter, look me in the eye I’m just like you…’
The podcast is available on SPOTIFY, APPLE podcasts, overcast and Podbean.
Cath, Kerri, Alix and Bernadette who feature in the Podcast are available for media interviews. (Alix and Bernadette performed in the play in 2019 in prison and also the radio play recording inside the prison in 2020).
Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company’s (SDTC) has a 40-year history of working with the most disadvantaged, commencing in 1981 with a play that was taken into Fairlea Women’s Prison. The impact on the women inmates was so strong that the women requested the provision of an ongoing drama program themselves. SDTC’s work with women in prison continues to this day and has extended to working with women post release and with vulnerable communities throughout Victoria – particularly at-risk young people.
SDTC’s artistic methodology is recognised as a powerful instrument for motivating change both personal and systemic, cultivating connections, offering new insights into society, stimulating social/cultural discussion and inclusion.
In 2000, SDTC began working with marginalised young people in regional settings, which led to the ground-breaking arts led partnership with Education and Health called “HighWater”. This award-winning program targeted disadvantaged youth who were ‘school refusers’ and ran for 16 years. For the last six years SDTC has been leading ‘Nobody’s Fool Theatre’ in Geelong, also with outstanding results. It has been used as a model of intervention for several programs.
