Unlock Drama is proud to announce that we have been awarded the drama-based tender on the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to deliver a new 10-week theatre residency at HMP Bullingdon, launching in January 2026.
This new partnership allows us to deliver creative, issue-based projects across multiple wings of the establishment, supporting the prison’s wider strategy for purposeful activity, learning and rehabilitation.
About HMP Bullingdon
HMP Bullingdon is a Category B/C male training and resettlement prison located in Arncott, Oxfordshire. With a capacity of around 1,100 men, it houses a mixed population including both sentenced and remand prisoners.
As a local prison, it serves courts in Oxfordshire and surrounding areas and plays a key role in preparing individuals for release or progression. Unlock Drama is delighted to be joining the establishment as a new creative delivery partner.
What We’re Delivering
Across the 10-week residency, Unlock Drama will deliver 10 four-day theatre-based projects, each designed to explore a specific topic through drama. These issue-based projects are shaped to support behaviour change, emotional insight and constructive engagement.
Project themes include:
- Psychoactive Substance Awareness
- Violence Reduction
- Gang Culture (young adults aged 18–24)
- Substance Misuse and Recovery (ISFL unit)
- Family-Led Wellbeing and Mental Health
All projects are delivered from Monday to Thursday and include a participant-led performance or presentation. The sessions use applied theatre techniques such as improvisation, still image, and role-play to explore personal choice, peer influence, consequences and change.
Creative Work That Supports Rehabilitation Culture
Unlock Drama’s model has been developed over more than a decade of delivering applied theatre across the criminal justice system. Our sessions are trauma-informed, neurodiversity-aware, and designed to meet individuals where they are.
While each project explores a focused theme, the overall delivery contributes to a wider rehabilitative culture by:
- Building confidence, trust and communication
- Strengthening decision-making and group collaboration
- Encouraging positive identity and peer connection
- Offering safe, structured space for reflection
- Increasing access to purposeful, creative education
Throughout the residency, Unlock Drama will work closely with the prison’s Head of Learning and Skills, Head of Skills and Work, and other departmental teams to ensure the projects are embedded, responsive and aligned with the prison’s wider goals.
A Growing Footprint Across the Prison Estate
The HMP Bullingdon residency also marks a major moment for Unlock Drama; we have now delivered projects in 50 different prisons across the UK.
From small group workshops to whole-wing performances, our focus has always been to enable change through creativity. Every project aims to provide meaningful opportunities for growth, challenge, and connection.
What’s Ahead
Delivery begins in January 2026 and will run for 10 consecutive weeks. Unlock Drama will:
- Deliver 10 distinct projects across key prison themes
- Engage a diverse range of cohorts from across the estate
- Collaborate with staff to support ongoing learning and development
- Support safer custody and behavioural insight through theatre
- Share outcomes, evaluation and learning across the contract
We’re proud to begin this partnership with HMP Bullingdon and look forward to contributing to the delivery of purposeful, creative interventions that aid rehabilitation and personal growth.
