1976 or 1977 Love in the Mist at Broadmoor Hospital

 

I’m living in Reading with my partner and we’ve been invited to attend a performance in the theatre at Broadmoor by someone working there. Broadmoor is a high-security hospital whose inmates are those who have been deemed criminally insane after committing some very serious crime or crimes or those  whose psychotic mental health problems cannot be managed in regular mental hospitals, let alone everyday contexts.

But some inmates or patients will be rehabilitated, in stages. I don’t know how many. Broadmoor has separate wings for males and females - many of the males will have committed offences against women - but those who are moving towards release are allowed to mix under supervision. One of the places they mix is the theatre, apparently famous and certainly large, where inmates of the asylum at Broadmoor perform for invited audiences.

We are going to see Love in the Mist, a romantic comedy, which definitely allows for mixing of the sexes. In fact, as it turns out, rather too much: there are clearly moments where an on-stage theatrical  kiss on the sofa turns into a  very real kiss. The off-stage director (a member of staff not an inmate) has to call out from the wings for the actors to get on with the play.

And I suppose it does get on because there is an interval and trustee inmates from the theatre cast and production team are allowed, under close supervision, to mix in the foyer with guests. If I recall correctly, there are soft drinks but no alcohol. The Broadmoor patients do not wear name badges and so my partner and I leave the show not knowing whether we have been talking to arsonists, murderers, rapists, or whatever else it is that can earn you a place in Broadmoor. But it’s not easy to gain admittance, that we know