COMING SOON – SPRING 2025

“Very Powerful, I think it speaks volumes and hits a lot of truth about women in prison…” – Audience member from HMP Low Newton

Rupture

Written by Catrina McHugh MBE
Directed by Rachel Glover
Co-created with the women from HMP Low Newton

There is a code blue. Destiny escapes onto a prison roof.

It’s bonfire night, the country is exploding and so is Destiny.

Created with women from HMP Low Newton, and based on true-life experiences, Rupture is their story about being mothers in prison.

Rupture was made in partnership with NEPACS and Criminal Justice, Social Harm and Inequalities Research Group, Durham University.

In the Durham University Parental Rights in Prison Project report, December 2023, Dr Kate O’Brien and Dr Hannah King have recommended “that funding be sought to enable Open Clasp to take Rupture on tour (including to men’s and women’s prisons) and filmed and used for training purposes.”

Cast and Creative Team 

Destiny (cast) Narisha Lawson 

Written by Catrina McHugh MBE 

Directed by Rachel Glover 

Illustrations by Kate Sweeney  

Set and Costume by Natalie Johnson 

Lighting Design by Sherry Conen 

Composed by Nicky Rushton 

Sound Design by Roma Yagnik 

In 2022 we began working with our partners NEPACS and Criminal Justice, Social Harm and Inequalities Research Group, Durham University, to explore the experiences of mothers in prison. 

NEPACS is a voluntary sector organisation based in the North East of England. It has been delivering services to prisoners and their families since 1882 dedicated to strengthening prisoner family ties between custody and the community. 

Dr Kate O’Brien and Dr Hannah King (Criminal Justice, Social Harm and Inequalities Research Group, Durham University) are Co-Directors of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme at Durham University. They are nationally recognised academics working with and researching the experiences of men and women in prison in the UK. 

We have worked with a group of mothers in HMP Low Newton to create Rupture, which shares their experience and stories of being mothers in prison.