Synergy wins at The Stage Awards 2025

Esther Baker accepted the Award on behalf of Synergy at a ceremony on Monday 20th January 2025 at the Royal Opera House. In her acceptance speech Esther said “There is so much potential in prison, so many stories and so much talent so please come and see the work, hire ex-prisoners, open up your theatres, put the work on your stages and don’t keep ours and all these other brilliant nominee companies work marginalised as we can enrich British Theatre and peoples’ lives at the same time.”

Afterwards she called for theatres to be less risk-averse and more bold and to create more opportunities for people who have come from difficult backgrounds. Read The Stage article here.

You can read the full details of Synergy’s nomination and about the other nominees for The Community award here.

The Stage writes: “In theatre, we are often eager to talk about the artform’s transformative possibilities, but for the past 24 years Synergy Theatre Project has been proving this by its actions and projects with prisoners, ex-prisoners and young people at risk of offending.

Synergy doesn’t just work towards rehabilitation and resettlement through the creation of transferable creative and practical skills, it also helps raise awareness of the criminal justice system and how it works, which is often hidden from wider society. It creates understanding and empathy.”