Animating The Brain

A robot puppet visited Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to meet patients and families following a collaboration between GOSH Arts and puppet theatre company Theatre Rites.

The collaboration supported the development of Animating the Brain, a project that aims to ignite children’s fascination with their brain and creatively engage people with neuroscience and neurology.

During their two-week project at GOSH, the Theatre Rites creative team ran workshops on Koala Ward – the neuroscience ward – with patients and families, who were introduced to their robot puppet, ‘LabBoy’. The result of two years of research with neuroscientists from King’s College London, LabBoy was a great hit with everyone he met!

In one-to-one sessions, children made their own symbolic ‘brain’ which allowed them to celebrate things that were important to them. In some cases, they playfully and physically represented the regions of their brain that caused their illness.

These workshops were made into a film, which celebrates the contributions of children and families.

Theatre Rites' creative team also met with clinical staff who work in the field of neurology. The sessions helped Theatre Rites to understand more about the expertise that staff use and the ethical and social issues that they tackle when trying to repair acquired brain injuries or manage non-typical brain developments in children.

Theatre Rites recorded their conversations with the neurology teams and, alongside the ideas gathered during workshops with families, will use them to inform the development of Animating the Brain over the next year.

Thanks to all the families and staff who took part!

Watch the film

GOSH Arts is funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.
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