Theatre maker and former parole officer J R Brennan worked with actors, former prisoners, criminologists and academics to create a compelling performance experiment. 

Set in an imagined future, a real-life ex-offender takes on the role of parole officer interviewing a version of themselves, played by renowned comic actor David Woods (Ridiculusmus, Back to Back).

Their parole has been breached. Are they entitled to freedom? Should they go back inside? The audience, as parole board, must decide.

Winner of the Green Room Award for Best Performer (Woods) and nominated for Best Contemporary Performance, The Chat challenges stereotypes about ex-offenders, exposes the human cost behind our justice system and reveals the uncomfortable complexities of how people who have “done their time” can escape the cycle of retribution and truly know freedom.