OEDIPUS 2008

NOTE THIS IS A FLYER FOR THE WORKSHOP IN 2008 AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HERFORDSHIRE

OEDIPUS REX
(Reclaiming the myth)
A CPD workshop for Arts Therapists in which to explore and retell this story by Sophocles using digital animation and multi-media techniques.

Oedipus Rex, Sophocles’s most famous play and Greek tragedy is in terms of psychotherapy the source of Freud’s Oedipal Complex. In this workshop however the emphasis will be much more about responding to the actual story, exploring it and retelling it through video, animation and installation than in searching for and discussing theoretical meanings. In this way we will come to a different ‘understanding’ of the myth arrived at through a visual, poetic, physical, emotional and collaborative process.

We will make and use puppets (shadow, glove, plasticene), drawings/doodles, digital photos, sound, light and shadow projections and text to retell the story in video, animation, performance and installation using the extensive facilities of the University of Hertfordshire.

The workshop will aim to:

Look at the myth of Oedipus Rex and make work in response to the story using animation, installation and sound.

Explore the use and importance of stories and narrative in our work as Arts Therapists through the Oedipus myth.

Explore digital technology and multi media techniques (that are so given to working with narratives) that can potentially be used in Art Therapy.


No experience of working with digital technology or animation is necessary but it would be useful if you have read or know the story of Oedipus Rex. I recommend the Pasolini film of the same name.