DRAMA BEHIND BARS: A scene from the musical The Inner Prison (COURTESY OF QINGPU PRISON)

'There are two kinds of prisons: Those that are visible and the invisible." This line, from the opening monologue of The Inner Prison, begins what is considered the world's first original musical produced from behind bars, here at Shanghai Qingpu Prison.

Most of the actors and musicians are prisoners with no formal musical training. They spent about a year rehearsing the musical, learning every part from scratch. The musical's composer, Liu Xin (pseudonym), just over 50 years old, is the production's sole professional, having graduated from a music college. He was put behind bars in 2009.

"Actually, before I was here, I made my own prison out of endless greed," said Liu, who revealed that he spent most of his time on business and his family always took second place to money. After Liu was imprisoned, his mother visited him and said, "Finally you don't need to go out all the time for business and we can sit and talk. I feel like your mom again."

These words resonated with Liu one sleepless night. "We have a term for real prison. But what about the inner prison that most people might have, but don't realize? How can you enable the inmates to realize that the bondage deep in the innermost depths of their minds is the real criminal in their lives?"

First-ever musical

Since then, the idea to create a musical gained traction throughout the prison. Though few people saw a possibility to make it work, it got the support of Song Lie, the Party chief of the prison. Song had seen the movie Caesar Must Die, which won the Golden Bear at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival. The movie, which stars actual prisoners, follows convicts in their rehearsals ahead of a prison performance of Julius Caesar.

"Since those prisoners can reenact a Shakespearean drama, why can't we do a musical?" said Song. Rehearsals for the Qingpu Prison musical started in early 2012. It describes the efforts of a young policeman to educate convicts while intertwining in plot elements involving the convicts' backstories, their family members and the volunteers that help them.

Yang Xinwei, Director of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, directed the prison's musical. "The title of the musical, The Inner Prison, popped up while I was training convicts," said Yang. "If a person locks himself away inside, even if he is physically free, it is still like being imprisoned by oneself." In this sense, an "inner prison" is not just limited to the convicts.

"What is regret? It is to face your wrongdoings, tear up the bleeding wounds and not stray back down the wrong path," said Xie Ziqiang (pseudonym) who wrote all 35 songs in the musical, adding that the lyrics are the words written from his heart.

When the musical made its stage debut at the prison's hall on January 10, 2013, some relatives and friends of the prisoners were invited to attend. During the middle of the performance, actors on the stage were so overcome that the show had to be temporarily halted so they could wipe away the tears.