Persephone Sextou

Arts-based methodologies in research with vulnerable children and young people in hospitals create a particular opportunity to GIVE back to the community a heaven of opportunity, kindness and possibility.

In my arts & health research projects in paediatrics and hospices, I have used embodied and mediated performance, stories and digital apps and XR technology to tell children that magical boots can fly to the moon, dragons can have ears made of eggplants, and a glittering star can be touched. We also GIVE children factual information about treatments in digital, playful, imaginative and creative ways.

It is the child's right to own their illness as well as the potential of their stories; how to create them, live them, change them, remake them, neglect them, revive them, and perform them with assistance, when needed, from actors. I expect and believe that children can be playful and creative in illness, and as a researcher, I support this creation as the ART of GIVING.

Future Stories
Virtual Reality (VR) for young people with serious conditions in hospitals

'Future Stories' is a research study led by Prof M. Balfour at The University of New South Wales Sydney Australia. It designs innovative technological (VR) approaches to creative care for young people with serious conditions at Queensland Children's Hospital Palliative Care.

My role in the ‘Future Stories’ main study (2022-2026) is a Co-Investigator - International Collaborator. As a Visiting Professor at UNSW Sydney I visited Australia in September 2023 to work with the FT team on the first few weeks of the study at Queensland Children's Hospital and Sydney Children's Hospital.

Webinar: 'Future Stories: co-designing virtual reality (VR) experiences with young people with a serious illness in hospital' can also be viewed to the right---->

Publication:

Michael Balfour, Jan Cattoni, Persephone Sextou, Anthony Herbert, Lynne Seear, Guy Lobwein, Margaret Gibson & Jennifer Penton (2022) 'Future stories: co-designing virtual reality (VR) experiences with young people with a serious illness in hospital', Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2022.2034496 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13569783.2022.2034496

Funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Period: 2022-2026

'Here, I am flying!'

A film for hospitalised children

My aim is to investigate the impact of an experimental digital toy-film on the reduction of pre-operative clinical anxiety and emotional regulation in Paediatrics (MRI treatment) as a reflection on the importance of considering the relationship between embodied and mediated performance in Paediatrics as being part of a wider chain of digital translations, that pervades all forms of play and of storytelling.

'Here, I am flying!’ uses objects and people of the Playmobill World (Playmobil City Life X-ray Room 6659 by 2014-Hospital Doctor). We experimented with the display of meta-Playmobil toy-object thinking to explicitly put the Playmobil aesthetics in the foreground of the plot: A therapy dog and a boy meet in a scan room at the hospital just before the boy is having a brain scan. In the boy's imagination, they immediately connect, they escape the hospital operation room and fly into space. Together, they travel to galaxies and visit planets, they see relaxing moving images of sparkling space animals while they listen to a calming music tune. Watch the video to the right.

The film is designed and created for well-being, relaxation and, learning purposes. It can be used by artists-in-healthcare, play specialists, nurses, hospital teachers, parents/carers & families. The film aims to distract children's minds before having an operation, give them a topic for literacy learning with hospital teachers, and create opportunities for children to share hidden emotions by making their own stories with the film as a starter.

Principal Investigator: Persephone Sextou

Partner organisations: Newman University Birmingham, James Brindley Academy at Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS U.K.

Funded by the Lottery Community Fund and, BBC Children in Need.

Period: 2020-2022

Rocket-Arts digital (Phase B)

Animated cartoon video and KS1-KS2 literacy exercises

Rocket-arts is an innovative variation of embodied theatre performance for children in hospitals that has adopted mediated elements of digital creativity to meet the needs of hospitalised children during the Covid-19 pandemic. It investigates children’s engagement with learning through digital arts-based activities as a phenomenon within its real-life hospital context. Children who miss curriculum work while in hospital are expected to face difficulties catching up with their class peers upon their school return. Rocket-arts research targeted sick and injured children (aged 3-5, 6-8 ) at Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH).

Artists have lost access to patients on NHS sites in the U.K., causing arts-based projects to pause indefinitely across the country due to Covid-19. Creative ways had to be implemented to help young patients to benefit from the arts during isolation. The mode of delivery of Rocket-arts was changed from a bedside face-to-face object theatre with storytelling intervention to a digital arts-based storytelling project, offering children digital resources based on the initial story, such as animated cartoon, toy-based films and interactive worksheets. Literacy KS1 & KS2 activities.

The project is critically discussed in my book 'Applied Theatre in Paediatrics. Children Stories and Synergies of Emotions' (2022).

Digital, creative & educational activities

For VIDEOS see on the right of the screen

‘Simba and the space cave’ animated cartoon film: https://youtu.be/PiCOZXeCTxM
‘Welcome to Rocketarts online!’ for the elderly children 5-8 years old: https://youtu.be/vm_Eejigeyo

Interactive worksheets for children of different abilities

Word Match 1 (for children aged 2-5 years): https://www.liveworksheets.com/gv969940qy

Word Match 2 (for children aged 2-5 years): https://www.liveworksheets.com/rl969954cu

Word Match 3 (for children aged 5-8 years): https://www.liveworksheets.com/ir969967xu

Arrange the Scenes 1 (for children aged 2-5 years): https://www.liveworksheets.com/ix969982kx

Arrange the Scenes 2 (for children aged 5-8 years): https://www.liveworksheets.com/xj970002vc

What would you say...? (for all ages): https://www.liveworksheets.com/pl970009os

Principal Investigator: Persephone Sextou

Partner organisations: Newman University Birmingham, James Brindley Academy atBirmingham Children's Hospital NHS U.K.

Funded by BBC Children in Need and The Lottery Community Fund.

Period: 2020-2021. 20-2021.#

Rocket-Arts bedside theatre (Phase A)

Miniature object theatre and storytelling

‘Rocket-Arts’ tells the story of Simba, the therapy dog, and a little boy in the hospital. Simba, our family red cocker spaniel, inspired me to write a storybook for children in the hospital undergoing treatment and for children who are poorly at home or feel lonely and need a friend to escape to places by using their imagination. We told the children about Simba’s adventures in space, aiming to distract children, relax their minds and mitigate their experience of anxiety in anticipation of a clinical procedure.

Webinar SDHRC/CCCU: You can watch my presentation on Rocket-Arts followed by a discussion by clicking on the link to the right.

NHS Media: the James Brindley Academies at Birmingham Children's Hospital: https://www.jamesbrindley.org.uk/page/?title=Rocket%2DArts&pid=1416

Principal Investigator: Persephone Sextou

Partner organisations: Newman University Birmingham,James Brindley Academy at Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS U.K.

Funded by BBC Children in Need and The Lottery Community Fund.

Period: 2019-2020.

The Bird Island

Bedside puppetry and storytelling in hospitals and hospices

The ‘Bird Island’ project consists of two main parts, an interactive bedside performance (20 min) and art-making activities (10 min), both facilitated by professional actors, storytellers, puppeteers and craft-makers bedside on hospital wards in England. We employed acting, storytelling, puppetry and improvisation, breathing, singing and art installation as creative methodologies.

'Lollie the Rough Collie and the Magic Kiss' (2018 self-publication). You can read the story here: https://www.letterpressproject.co.uk/inspiring-young-readers/2016-10-04/lollie-the-rough-collie-and-the-magic-kiss

Publication: Persephone Sextou (2022) Theatre in paediatrics: can participatory performance mitigate educational, emotional and social consequences of missing out school during hospitalisation?, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 27:1, 88-105, DOI: 10.1080/13569783.2021.1940914 Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13569783.2021.1940914

Principal Investigator: Persephone Sextou

Partner organisations: Newman University Birmingham, James Brindley Academy at Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS U.K.

Funded by BBC Children in Need, The Grimmitt Trust and The W.A. Cadbury Trust.

Period: 2016-2019.

Breathing with Love

Bedside participatory performance for stress-free kids

‘Breathing with Love’ performances took place in Paediatrics at the Heartlands Hospital Heart of England NHS Trust in West Midlands. Inspired by a story written by Lori Lite (2001).

We used a soft toy, a pink turtle with a red shell and big brown friendly eyes (pillow size). A boy and a turtle watched a rainbow in an imaginary location by a calm pond. The Rainbow started dancing bedside. The Boy put his feet into the water, and the seven colours of the rainbow gradually surrounded him. The turtle moved closer to the boy and did the same. The boy guided the child to observe the sensations of her body closely. Between each colour, the turtle and the child practised breathing together to relax their bodies. By the end of the play, the child had completed the relaxation practice. The child was offered a few moments to enjoy the relaxation. An opportunity was also given to reflect on the experience by asking questions or giving her opinion on the characters and the story. This was optional and was decided by the artists depending on the child’s preference.

The project is discussed in my book Theatre for Children in Hospital. The Gift of Compassion (2016).

Principal Investigator: Persephone Sextou

Partner organisations: Newman University Birmingham, Heartlands Hospital Arts Department and Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS U.K.

Commissioned by The Heart of England Foundation NHS Trust (Arts).

Period 2013-2014.

Professor Persephone Sextou