A leading Russian stage director has given a master class at a Moscow region prison for young offenders. Drama has become a real passion for the inmates as they are planning to take part in the first all-Russian Prison Theatre Festival.

Top Russian director Vyacheslav Spesivtsev is giving master classes to inmates at the Iksha facility, 65 KM north of Moscow, at least once a month. He is doing it at his own initiative and for free. 

“Performing enlivens you. It makes you forget about where you are,” says Evgeny Pavlov, a convict.

As the boys are getting ready for the upcoming prison theatre festival, their patron is confident their chances are very high.

“I teach at 8 studios. And believe me the kids from difficult families are more talented. They've experienced a lot. When they act passion, grief or excitement on stage you believe them. It's a paradox,” Vyacheslav Spesivtsev says. 

The theatre studio has been operating here for several years. It all began with a music and literature club. The teachers then decided to go further and involve their charges in drama.

“The drama studio changes the participants. They become more relaxed, kinder and less shy. The boys find themselves,” Olga Sotskaya, Russian language teacher, states. 

The inmates at Iksha have only 6 weeks now to rehearse before the first all-Russian Prison Theatre Festival. It will be hosted by Vyacheslav Spesivtsev's experimental theatre and involves 12 companies from all over the country.