The Tipping Point
a community engagement project with performance artists Margot Edwards & Sandy McKendrick.
improvisational storytelling
physical theatre
puppetry & mask
collaborative music
set & costume making
Two storytellers Margot Edwards (improvised movement-wordplay) and Sandy McKendrick (puppetry-found object design) come to each community workshop with the Tipping Point story as an offering and entry point.
We each bring different experience to engaging communities in festivals, events and residencies, and through our collaborative improvisational workshop process, we respond to the unique regional stories of climate consciousness in each community we work with.
Together with musicians, local artists and community participants, we create improvisational performances to unlock fear and use the power of connection and somatic movement to move ideas forward in dynamic, creative and engaging story creation.
We have a broad cross-section of mediums we can offer and masses of experience working in versatile ways in different communities.
How best to bring solace to the many people experiencing climate anxiety? Through enacting story that has momentum towards change and hope.
When Margot engaged a group of 35 women spanning multiple generations, in a story workshop on International Women’s Day in 2023, they agreed the common issue in their lives at this time is deep anxiety about the global tipping point. Together they created an archetypal tale for our shared global connundrum.
To find the essence of their anxiety, the storytellers zoned in on the scarcity of unpolluted water in WA; feelings of being stuck in facing total reevaluation of global lifestyles; lack of leadership; fear for all children and grandchildren facing an indefinite future, and the impacts on all our mental health.
Channeling ideas on character, setting, intention and motivation, they explored 1) the wounding of the earth 2) the courage of the young in leading out 3) the need for adults to take responsibility in adapting human environment to suit natural laws, and 4) the balance to be found in universal matriarchal cultural practices.
Together they wove the "good bones" of an apocalyptic tale with a cathartic climax and two key powerful archetypal characters, The Wounded Soul of the Earth and the Wise Woman of the Aquifer. This is the starting place for each community to explore their own tales for these times.
Tech specs available here
“We were able to move and create from inside out without boundaries … amazing facilitation. I felt so glad to have shared the fun and creative journey.”
Jenny Gibson,
teacher and participant
“Thankyou for the incredible experience at Wild Village Festival. That workshop with you both was really really transformative for me … it was and still is my absolute highlight.”
Jacinta, workshop participant
“What an incredibly timely outpouring … of frustration, of hope ... I’ll be thinking about these words forever. Can’t wait to engage as you spread the project through the state.”
Bridget Norton, visual & community artist/participant
“Thankyou for the magic.”
Clara, dancer, community participant
