Bombs are dropped on Beirut in an Israeli air attack. Everyone is terrified and nobody can sleep. But the next day, Victoria Lupton, Co-founder and CEO of Seenaryo, and her colleagues immediately get to work, making plans to support the communities and children affected by the attacks.
“In both Lebanon and Palestine across the West Bank and Gaza, another generation of children is losing out on the right to education. As always happens in war, the most vulnerable people, children, are the most heavily affected.”
Seenaryo Theatre Rehearsal in Irbid, Jordan
Seenaryo is a UK organisation that works in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, using theatre and play to support people to heal, lead, and learn. Since 2015, they have been working with children, youth, and women from vulnerable communities to transform the individual’s sense of agency and help them build resilience.
“In emergency contexts, education and arts is often seen as a luxury, but education and mental resilience is a basic need and we need to be responding to that,” Victoria Lupton, CEO of Seenaryo
Lebanon, a country that has already been fraught with economic and political fragility, is now facing an acute crisis due to escalating attacks by Israel. Children are particularly affected by this crisis – 77% of public schools in Lebanon have been either destroyed or are currently being used as shelters which has led to 605,000 children in Lebanon being prevented from receiving education.
Seenaryo is acting quickly to respond to this need. Through their Emergency Campaign for Lebanon, they are providing immediate relief support to cover basic essentials like food and shelter, psychosocial support through theatre to young people and women, bringing play-based learning to children living in shelters directly and through staff training, and equipping caregivers with educational resources through Whatsapp.
The importance of theatre and play in the midst of a crisis
Seenaryo's theatre programme in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon
Children living amidst war suffer from high levels of toxic stress, which impacts their ability to develop and have the resilience they need later on in life. However, play and theatre are powerful ways to allow children to process what they are going through, build life skills, find a joy for learning, and maintain that resilience.
“In emergency contexts, education and arts is often seen as a luxury, but education and mental resilience is a basic need and we need to be responding to that,” explains Victoria.
“It’s really important not to underestimate the dignity that brings to people, and the kind of relief that a sense of agency brings,” emphasises Victoria.
“If education and mental health is not prioritised, you end up with a generation of Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians who don’t have the resilience, life skills, or mental health to be able to succeed later on. So for the future of the country, the region, and the world, we really need to be investing in education and in people’s mental health.”
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Seenaryo's programme in Beirut, Lebanon
Seenaryo uses a participatory co-created approach to theatre in which participants create their own play together. This participatory approach gives participants a sense of control and agency over their lives that they need. “It’s really important not to underestimate the dignity that brings to people, and the kind of relief that a sense of agency brings,” emphasises Victoria.
For example, following the Beirut explosion in August 2020, Nasser, a 9-year old boy living in Beirut became obsessed with the news, living with the fear that he was going to be killed soon. When he started participating in Seenaryo’s theatre programme, it gave him an outlet to imagine a different reality. His mother shared that after starting the theatre programme, it was the first time she saw him being positive since the explosion. Instead of thinking about the news and the difficult situation, he could dream about dinosaurs, and animals going on an adventure.
Seenaryo in Palestine
Seenaryo started building partnerships with organisations in Palestine in 2022, and finally were able to run their first ever Playkit trainings in Ramallah in August 2024.
Teacher Playkit training in Ramallah, Palestine (Credit: Qattan Foundation Media Department)
In partnership with Qattan Foundation, they trained 52 teachers in the West Bank to use their Playkit resources - an app and in-person training that provides teachers with games, songs, stories, and more for children aged 3–8 to incorporate play into the classroom. And the impact has been really profound. “We received a video last week from a teacher in Hebron of about 150 children in the courtyard of the school. And the children are all singing in unison, one of the songs from the Playkit [...] and they’re all having an amazing time and really enjoying themselves.”
The teacher also shared that the Playkit had completely transformed her ability to manage the behaviour of the group, and to make sure that everyone in her classroom was included and enjoying their learning.
Message to the International Education Community
Amid the ongoing crisis, Victoria Lupton delivers a clear and urgent message to the international education community: “In both Lebanon and Palestine across the West Bank and Gaza, another generation of children is losing out on the right to education. As always happens in war, the most vulnerable people, children, are the most heavily affected. The implications of a generation that misses out on education will be felt for decades to come. We need to push for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and across the region because bloodshed is not going to bring peace. It only makes everybody less safe and most importantly, it denies a whole generation of children a future.”
