The Hackney Schools Greek Drama Project
In 2008, playwright Graham Kirby joined The Iris Project as the co-originator of a new pilot project funded by University College London and run with the help of student volunteers.
The project started running in two schools in the London Borough of Hackney with a series of workshops that introduced Greek mythologies and history to Year 6 and Year 7 pupils.
The culmination of the project was on 7 July 2008 with a free performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre of Aristophanes' Frogs and Peace, translated and adapted by Graham Kirby. The project was viewed as a success by academics and seen as an important contribution to widening access to Classics. Professor Chris Carey commented: "These plays are an ideal vehicle because they are enormous fun and can be appreciated by a wide audience. The children did a very good job; I was impressed that they were never intimidated by the scale of the theatre. They put a lot of work into learning their lines and getting into character.".
Read more about this topic: The Iris Project
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