This performance evolved collaboratively through an exploration of the Greek myth of Erisychthon, recorded in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Researcher Robert Romanyshyn articulates how the ancient myths are littered with unfinished business and unanswered questions bequeathed to us by the ancestors. As such, we started this process by questioning, ‘what does this myth ask of us now? What is the unfinished business among the images of hunger, destruction, fathers and daughters?’ Through this lens, the myth became a prophetic allegory of capitalism and the climate crisis we are all facing.

The concept and material were devised through improvisation, discussion and collaboration. In line with the art of storytelling, many sections of the spoken text are orally crafted by the students themselves and unscripted. The intention was to create a performance score, demanding of the performers a high level of presence, liveness and connectedness with both each other and the audience. Through the drawing together of storytelling styles – traditional, epic, contemporary, physical – we seek to remember the power of story to both destroy and create… and most importantly, to offer hope of a brighter future. We are the storytellers… how do we want our story to end?