Killed the Radio Star

First of all let me explain the title, if you know the song Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles that's where it comes from. Its ironic in this case because the "radio stars" in this case, the prisoners acting in Hamlet, are killers. Ha.
This is also relevant because the fact that the players are criminals, possibly murderers, brings more interest to the play, no doubt, but also could effect the actors' own lives. There is an interesting connection between the convicts playing the parts and Shakespeare's characters themselves. In a way, by performing these acts of Hamlet, the prisoners could be coming to terms with the actions that brought them to jail in the first place. Hamlet contains murderers and victims, so imagine a man who had killed another man playing the role of a man who gets killed - that would be a pretty interesting situation for the actor. In this way the prison productions of Hamlet could be seen as correctional, possibly even therapeutic, for the convicts involved to get in touch with their literary side but also their past actions and the consequences.