“Every suitcase holds a story. For this little girl it holds the most important story of her life, but she doesn’t know how to tell it.

Sometimes she wanted to open it, reach inside and touch. On really bad days she wanted to crawl inside it and hide. Sometimes just shut it out of her mind, keep the lid on it. But the Suitcase was always there. It was always there and it was always a reminder of who she was and where she came from. Sometimes that made her happy. Sometimes sad and sometimes ... she didn’t know how to feel about it."

In collaboration with Porta Theatre and Porta Theatre Lab, it is our great pleasure to present in Greece a theatre-in-education programme entitled Suitcase by theatre director Chris Cooper and UK-based Theatre in Education company Big Brum.

Suitcase focuses on diversity issues. Using story, theatre and participatory drama, it creates an open space for children and encourages them to use their imagination and explore their feelings by putting themselves into different roles and situations. How does it feel to be ‘foreign’? What does it mean to be 'at home' in the world?

Working together, Big Brum and Theatre Lab Porta will jointly present the programme to primary school students as well as at children's workshops at Porta Theatre Lab.

Chris Cooper will also present the Suitcase programme to teachers, theatre specialists, actors, directors and anyone with an interest in Theatre in Education, exploring the possibility of using theatre as a tool for intercultural education.

As part of the programme, Chris Cooper will lead a 30-hour Master Class for teachers, theatre specialists and actors aimed at familiarising participants with the principles and philosophy of Drama and Theatre in Education.

Big Brum was founded in 1982. Core funded by the Arts Council England, it creates highly participative theatre-in-education programmes, drama projects and youth theatre work. The company tours throughout the West Midlands in the UK to schools and colleges, working with pupils from the age of 3 up to 17, and students in tertiary education.

It is internationally recognised as a leader in the field of theatre-in-education and drama for young people and its members have worked with young people, actors, teachers, theatres, universities and institutions all over the world. Among them are sister companies in Hungary and France and other organisations such as Porta Studio in Athens and the Qattan Foundation in Ramallah. The company continues to host visitors from every continent year on year giving them access to its unique archive of work, rehearsal and its work with young people.

• St Catherine’s British School
• 87th Primary School of Intercultural Education, Athens
• Primary School of Intercultural Education, Amfithea (Palio Faliro)
• Primary School of the University of Athens