Interactive theatre is being used as a Trojan horse to help classics teaching infiltrate state schools.
The Living Classics troupe, led by former Royal Shakespeare Company actor Paul O’Mahony, has developed special performances of Greek legends such as Theseus and the Minotaur and Daedalus and Icarus. Their performances are interactive, allowing children to follow the actors into the labyrinth or act out parts in the Trojan war.
The scheme has been overseen by Lorna Robinson, a 28-year-old classics teacher who left the exclusive private school Wellington college last year to promote classics to comprehensives.
The Living Classics troupe plans to tour 20 Oxfordshire state schools, then schools in London’s East End, where 10 schools have expressed an interest.
* www.irismagazine.org
