A powerful new theatrical production is using music and performance to shine a stark light on the often-overlooked struggles of life after prison. 'A Giant on the Bridge', a piece of gig-theatre created by singer-songwriter Jo Mango and theatre-maker Liam Hurley, premiered in 2024 and is set to tour across Scotland next month.
The show draws on extensive research from the project Distant Voices: Coming Home, which highlighted the dire rates of reoffending and the systemic barriers faced by those leaving custody. "The process is often less about the individuals and more about societal and structural issues," explains Mango, citing challenges like finding employment and fractured family support.
Songwriting as a Tool for Exploration and Resistance
The heart of the production lies in songs co-written with roughly 200 people with lived experience of the justice system, during intensive sessions in prisons and community settings. Research associate Phil Crockett Thomas observed that collaborative songwriting provided a unique space for expression. "Coming home, punishment and disconnection from the world outside are extremely distressing experiences," she says. "Music functioned as a resource for the self, sometimes a quiet form of resistance."
Participants often chose not to write directly about incarceration. "They wrote about completely different things, or they wrote daft and wonderful songs," Crockett Thomas recalls. This approach yielded profound material, including a poignant song audiences assume is by a prisoner, but was actually penned by a prison officer about a child with an absent father.
A Supergroup Giving Voice to Complex Stories
On stage, the songs are performed by what Hurley calls a 'Scottish indie folk supergroup'. The ensemble features Jo Mango, Louis Abbott of Admiral Fallow, Kim Grant (Raveloe), Jill O'Sullivan, Rachel Sermanni, and rapper Dave Hook. Hurley emphasises the theatrical magic comes from the performers shifting between telling stories as themselves and embodying characters, creating a "spark of intimacy and connection."
The show tackles complex emotions, like the anticipation of release captured in 'Bars and Multicoloured Chairs': "Don't count the days, make the days count / Learn to cope, nose like a sniffer dog, I can smell home." Another standout, 'Fuck It Button', written by someone in recovery, resonates with its blunt refrain about a moment of decision familiar to many.
Holding Contradictions in a Challenging Political Climate
Liam Hurley, who co-wrote the script weaving the songs together, saw the project as a chance to foster a compassionate conversation about a topic often lacking nuance. The team is acutely aware of the political context in Scotland, where despite a progressive image, imprisonment rates remain high and deaths in custody are among the highest in Europe. "Why are we building more and bigger prisons rather than trying to decarcerate?" Crockett Thomas asks.
Ultimately, 'A Giant on the Bridge' does not offer simple solutions. Instead, it creates a shared space for listening and reflection. Hurley hopes audiences leave "emotionally opened, intellectually stimulated, but also productively discombobulated." The show embodies a collective spirit, summarised by Hurley: "We can’t all talk at the same time, but we can all sing at the same time."
The production will be at Cottier’s theatre in Glasgow on 25-26 February before embarking on its Scottish tour.
