We started and ended each of our workshops with a drama-based session. These activities were important in helping everyone to get to know each other and to establish a sense of trust in the group so that people felt comfortable sharing sometimes difficult experiences with others.
Various games and exercises were also designed to help the children and young people ‘warm up’ the skills they needed for the research workshops so, for example, we played observation-based games before going on our walk to take photographs of the flood-affected landscape.
The use of theatre and drama also opened up a creative and imaginative space for the children and young people, allowing them not only to reflect on what had happened but envisage different possibilities and have a voice in future flood management.
The final stakeholder events used theatre as a powerful way for the children and young people to communicate their ideas for change to decision makers.