Lifers

By Evan Placey

'A system is people. These walls and bars didn't build themselves.'
Inside the walls of HMP Drummond, long-term prisoners Baxter, Norton and Lenny pass the time with poker, banter and the kind of gallows humour only lifers can muster.
When Lenny's body starts to give out, young prison officer Mark keeps an eye on him. What begins as a duty of care becomes an unexpected friendship, exposing the cracks in a system built to punish, not to support.
Darkly funny and unflinchingly honest, Evan Placey's play Lifers challenges what we think we know about crime, punishment and redemption. Do some crimes make a second chance impossible? And when the world moves on without you, what does justice really mean? Produced by Synergy Theatre Project, it premiered at Southwark Playhouse, London, in 2025, directed by Synergy's Artistic Director Esther Baker.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Oct 9, 2025
• ISBN: 9781788509374

Evan Placey

Evan Placey is a Canadian-British playwright who grew up in Toronto and now lives in London, England. His plays include: Lifers (Synergy Theatre Project at Southwark Playhouse, 2025); Peter Pan with Vikki Stone (Rose Theatre, Kingston, 2023); Jekyll & Hyde (National Youth Theatre, 2017 West End season); Consensual (National Youth Theatre, 2015 West End season); Girls Like That (Synergy/Unicorn Theatre; first produced and commissioned by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth and West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2013; winner of the Writers' Guild Award for Best Play for Young Audiences); Mother of Him (Courtyard Theatre; winner of the King’s Cross Award for New Writing, RBC National Playwriting Competition, Canada, and the Samuel French Canadian Play Contest); Banana Boys (Hampstead Theatre); Suicide(s) in Vegas (Canadian tour; Centaur Theatre Award nomination); Scarberia (Forward Theatre Project/York Theatre Royal); How Was It For You? (Unicorn Theatre); Holloway Jones (Synergy Theatre Project/schools tour/Unicorn Theatre; winner of the Brian Way Award 2012 for Best Play for Young People; Writers' Guild Award nomination); WiLd! (tutti frutti/UK tour and USA); and Pronoun (National Theatre Connections festival, 2014). Work for radio includes Mother of Him (BBC Radio 3/Little Brother Productions). Evan is a Creative Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Southampton, and also teaches playwriting to young people for various theatres, and also in prisons.

Book preview

Evan Placey

LIFERS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Characters

A Note on Punctuation

Lifers

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Lifers was first performed at Southwark Playhouse, London, on 1 October 2025, produced by Synergy Theatre Project. The following cast:

For Dad. I miss you.

Acknowledgements

Synergy Theatre Project, which I have been fortunate enough to be involved with for fifteen years, is what allowed me to write this play; the company’s support, knowledge of the criminal justice system and prisons, and engagement with a community of ex-prisoners is second to none. Thank you for your expertise and guidance.

The many prisoners and ex-prisoners, prison officers, and medical professionals, who shared with me your experiences – I hope I captured some of it, any mistakes or inaccuracies are entirely my own.

As ever, Neil Grutchfield for helping me build the ship, Jennie McClure for navigating, and Esther Baker for steering it. And though you think the play was my idea, Esther, and I think it was yours, let’s at least agree that you made it finally happen.

For the many insights in rehearsals that helped finetune the play: Ronel Thomas, Ronnie Actil, Jim Mcauley, Frank Skully; James Backway; Peter Wight; Sam Cox; Ricky Fearon; Mona Goodwin.

The initial development of the play was made possible by a Literature Matters Award from The Royal Society of Literature: thank you for your belief in the project.

Thank you also to:

All the staff at Southwark Playhouse and Synergy Theatre Project.

Tanya Tillett and everyone at Casarotto and at The Agency.

Daniel and Kaydon.

Evan Placey.

Foreword

Synergy commissions new plays to provide fresh insights on criminal justice, challenge the public perception of prisoners and further the public debate on issues beyond the headlines.

The care and treatment of older prisoners offers a mirror to our ageing population – both are growing and come with significant challenges around who is responsible for care up to the end of life. We hope that Lifers provides a window into the experiences of people who will age like us and our parents but find themselves within a system that was designed to punish and contain rather than care.

Esther Baker

Artistic Director, Synergy Theatre Project

Characters

LENNY, seventies

NORTON, seventies

BAXTER, seventies

MARK, thirties

SONYA, forties

WELLS, played by the same actor as Sonya

SIMIAN, played by the same actor as Mark

A Note on Punctuation

A dash ( – ) is a cut-off, sometimes of one’s own thought with a different thought (not a pause or beat).

An ellipsis ( … ) is a loss or search for words.

A lack of punctuation at the end of a line means the next line comes right in.

/ marks the point in a line where the following line interrupts or overlaps.

[ ] indicates words that are not spoken, but there to clarify a line’s meaning.

Lifers was developed with the support of the Royal Society of Literature’s Literature Matters Award.

his ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

Scene One

BAXTER, NORTON and LENNY are in the midst of a game of Texas Hold’Em Poker. All three men are in their seventies. NORTON smokes roll-ups.

BAXTER. All in.

NORTON. No, don’t be doing that shit.

BAXTER. When you got the cards, you got the cards.

NORTON. You don’t have shit.

LENNY. I’m out.

NORTON. He’s bluffing.

BAXTER. No bluff.

NORTON. Wot you got, old-timer?

BAXTER. You gonna have to pay to find out.

NORTON. What you think, Lenny, Baxter here got pocket jakes?

LENNY. Not getting involved.

NORTON throws his cards in.

NORTON. Hope you’re happy.

BAXTER. I am.

LENNY. Can you blow that somewhere else

Stuff’s painting my lungs

BAXTER. Norton was born with lungs painted black.

NORTON. Dad smoked a pipe every day and he lived til he was ninety.

LENNY. Why don’t you vape?

NORTON. I dunno what’s in that crap.

They done any tests?

BAXTER. Here we go.

NORTON. No not joking around

People sticking all kinds of shit into their bodies

BAXTER. Seriously, Norton

NORTON. I’m not talking about COVID, okay, not talking about vaccines

I’m talking basic stuff

BAXTER. You’re big blind.

NORTON. Baby formula, make-up, food, factory-generated fruit.

BAXTER. You in?

NORTON puts in chips. (Or whatever they’re using in place of chips.)

LENNY. What the hell’s factory-generated fruit?

NORTON. Avocados

BAXTER deals the