‘Family’ ‘Happiness’ ‘Included’ ‘Joy’, ‘Just Happy’ ‘Warm’: The ‘Emotional Zones’ and ‘Emotional Churn’ of Participation in the Beside Me Prison‐Based Community Theatre Project

ABSTRACT Beside Me was a 6‐month project implemented within a Scottish prison. The project entailed a team from Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre and partners working with fathers in custody and their children and families. Seven families took part in the project, which concentrated on building relationships, gaining self‐assurance and spending quality time together. Methodologically, this study adopted a qualitative, mixed method approach. Theoretically the study took an appreciative enquiry approach, alongside considering some of the challenges that emerged across the project. Cumulatively, the interviews and focus groups illustrate that the project had a profound positive impact for the participants, with Beside Me becoming a place of warmth and a new ‘emotional zone’ within prison. This in turn created increased ‘emotional churn’ as participants and their families navigated a more diverse emotional landscape of prison. We conclude by considering the radical possibilities during Beside Me within a wider system‐wide context where optimism and warmth are in limited supply.