Symbo tells the story of a lonely, mute gorilla who is struggling to communicate. The project aims to provide a customisable theatre performance, interactive workshop and accompanying classroom resources to primary schools, in an effort to raise awareness of mental health and promote emotional well being in Children across Plymouth; potentially touring nationally alongside our professional productions. Children are asked to help Symbo learn new skills and explore their emotional environments.

During our community programme, we learned that around 1 in 10 mental health illnesses adults live with are a result of problems left untreated in early childhood. We decided to research and further develop our practices in a way that was accessible to children, knowing that 'prevention is often better than a cure'. The result was 'Symbo the Gorilla', an interactive theatre/workshop experience for primary children to explore mental health/emotional wellbeing through storytelling and drama.

Our aim is to create a piece of theatre that can be scaled and adapted to fit any primary school classroom, as well as to tour national theatre venues. This project aims to raise awareness of the impact of a child's emotional environment on thier general happiness and sense of well being, provide a starting point for schools and a mechanism through which teachers/parents/support workers can support children to understand their mental health from an early age.