A provocative, inspiring and dynamic play Mandala Theatre, The Labyrinth connects young people to ancestry and heritage
For more than four thousand years, the Labyrinth has stood as a gateway to the ancient world. Now, three young archaeology volunteers from the UK enter its winding passages on a journey into the ancient lands of Kemet and Egypt. But as they venture deeper, the boundaries between past and present begin to collapse. What begins as an archaeological expedition becomes a deeply personal journey as the three young seekers confront questions of ancestry, identity and belonging.
What is real and what is a lie, made up by empire and learnt in history lessons they found no connection to?
As the long days excavating and researching become more desperate, our adventurers spend nights dreaming, astral travelling, and envisioning a new earth, a new time, where all will truly belong. Is this all just fantasy or as they retrace their steps out of the Labyrinth have they found a new purpose?
A provocative, inspiring and dynamic play – The Labyrinth connects young people to ancestry and heritage building emotional and psychological resilience, and strengthening identity and belonging. It involves shifting the narrative and looking at global history through a de-colonial lens where we celebrate the real version of history.
“Teaching true and inclusive history is vital for all young people, but especially for those from the global majority. It validates their identity, dismantles exclusionary [Euro]-centric narratives, and fosters belonging. By understanding the interconnectedness of their heritage and the world, students develop critical thinking, self-worth, and a clearer perspective on modern society.”
BLAM CIC UK
Mandala Heart Lab
The Labyrinth has been created with Heart Lab Company 2027 as a creative response to the questions, experiences and conversations emerging from Mandala Theatre’s work with young Global Majority artists around identity, belonging and ancestry. At the heart of Mandala Heart Lab is a belief that imagination can be a powerful tool for transformation. We create spaces where young artists can explore who they are, where they come from and what futures they want to build particularly when conventional histories and cultural narratives have left them feeling unseen, disconnected or excluded. We are interested in what might happen if young people were invited to journey beyond the histories they had been taught and encounter ancestral knowledge, cultural memory and the ancient civilisations of the Global Majority through imagination, storytelling and creative practice.
