This paper compares how urban-themed black British playwriting can be understood within mainstream and applied theatre contexts. The paper first examines the focus of the mainstream theatre's education packs for productions of Kwame Kwei-Armah's "Elmina's Kitchen" and Roy Williams's "Fallout" before exploring how black men's participation in Synergy Theatre Project's productions of the same two plays at Her Majesty's Prison, Brixton impacts on participants and audiences in line with some of the key principles of applied theatre practice in prisons.