"La Statale al BeKKA" is a Shakespeare programme for prisoners launched in 2016. Initially involving scholars of British Theatre Studies, namely Mariacristina Cavecchi and Maggie Rose, it is a collaboration between the University of Milan and the theatre company Puntozero. Later, colleagues from the Faculty of Criminal Law joined the project.
Every year, we collaborate with Puntozero’s founders Giuseppe Scutellà and Lisa Mazoni to organise theatre workshops based on a Shakespeare play. These workshops bring together university students from BA and MA courses in the Humanities and Law faculties, members of the Puntozero theatre company and young men and boys who are either incarcerated or on probation. Founded in 1995, Puntozero is a pioneering non-profit theatre company that works with young actors, including minors in custody or on probation at the Cesare Beccaria Youth Detention Centre in Milan – a facility that has been nicknamed “the Bekka” by those inside.
The programme began as part of a broader “third mission” initiative, which aimed to foster social engagement beyond the university context. It gained significant momentum when it became the central focus of a Creative Europe programme, and it expanded further when it was selected as one of the three flagship initiatives within the PRIN-funded Applied Shakespeare research project. Building on the foundation established at Beccaria, the project drives forward a multidisciplinary investigation into the transformative potential of drama in penal and educational contexts. The Milan Research Unit is exploring how prison Shakespeare workshops can promote civic awareness and rights education among young people. Through collaborative theatre-making with incarcerated minors, probationary youth and university students, the project aims to amplify marginalised voices and foster mutual understanding. The team aims to develop replicable models that reframe Shakespeare’s texts as dynamic pedagogical tools, thereby empowering educators to address the rights and responsibilities of young people within both juvenile institutions and academic environments.
On the project:
_docufilm La Statale al BeKKa, directed by Francesco Castagnino: https://vimeo.com/801210079
_Romeo Montague Behind Bars. A Shakespeare Prison Theatre Workshop led by Mariacristina Cavecchi, Lisa Mazoni, Margaret Rose, Giuseppe Scutellà, a cura di M. Cavecchi, M. Rose (Milan University Press, Milano, 2025).
Download: https://libri.unimi.it/index.php/studiteatrali/catalog/book/227
