The advantage of using Greek myths is that these stories are distant, but still relatable. In their distance, the stories provide safe spaces for experimentation, reimagining and role play. They provide a structured environment in which participants can cultivate empathy with the many ‘Others’ within their myth and with each other through the processes of retelling.

At the core of the Initiative and the workshops is co-production and collaborative work. The workshops are collaboratively designed by Royal Holloway teachers and students. The staff involved act as collaborators and mentors in a partnership with the university students who themselves benefit through experiencing new roles and responsibilities. The workshops are comprised of diverse and fun tasks through which participants engage in a shared interpretation of events and explorations of identities, relationships, motives, emotions, past lives and projected futures.

By their nature, Ancient Greek myths bound people together in a community. The stories were a shared heritage that allowed people to think through their concerns and problems. Integral to those stories are realities that we also face today: a multiplicity of separate experiences; conflict and negotiation between social powers and groups; and marginalisation along lines of gender, class and race.

Working with carefully selected mythical plotlines, the workshops invite imaginative and non-threatening explorations of these distant, but topical, stories. By ‘digging into’ the evidently fictional environments of the myths, participants are gently nudged to also engage with dilemmas and challenges with contemporary resonance. These are mythical stories that are not owned by any one group. They welcome people of all ages and from varying cultural backgrounds to engage in ways that are personally meaningful, while also enriching their cultural capital.

Storytelling is social capital.  

• The myths provide motivation for younger and older people alike to articulate a voice which, without being confessional, can bring to the fore their tacit knowledge and legitimate their views and experiences in the eyes of the community. 
• The workshops offer our participants opportunities to experience relationships of trust and mutual respect as they curate and develop each other’s voices in a process of collective storytelling. 
• Questioning powerful figures from a distant world, presents an opportunity for all those involved to develop impactful practices and a readiness to challenge the status quo. 
• Through restoring justice and care in the reimagined stories, participants also experiment with models of positive language that can bolster their ability to take positive action in their own environments.

Workshop tools and techniques are appropriate to age, group size, group make up and context of delivery. They include Role on the Wall, Frame Freeze, Thought Tracking, Thinking Buddies, Story Circles, Reflective Craft Spaces, etc.

Activities are suitable for quieter as well as talkative personalities. Non-verbal forms of engagement are encouraged through crafting and free spatial/kinaesthetic expression.

Working creatively with the select myths, participants:

• model emotions, motives, desires, ambitions etc for their fictive protagonists
• imagine alternative pasts, presents, and futures of individuals and the ways these might be achieved.
• Role-play successful relationships and analyse toxic ones
• explore affection, respect, consent, boundaries in imaginary relationships of any kind.

The workshops map well within Personal, Social Health and Economic education programs, as fun and supportive spaces for all characters and personalities to engage with important issues and relationships through role play and without the need to express personal opinions.

The workshops are also imaginative co-curricular enrichment activities for departments or subjects such as, for example, English, Drama, Politics, Psychology, Ethics and Philosophy.

They can also be offered within extra-curricular settings such as, 6th Form enrichment afternoon, or in a debate, oracy, creative writing, politics club, or storytelling, drawing, animation café etc.

The workshops can be offered during or after school. Each workshop can last between 1.00 and 1.30 hours and duration/type is decided in consultation with individual schools and teachers.

We can offer single events or a series of workshops in school hours or after school.

We can participate in special days dedicated to personal development alongside other offerings.