Storytelling with Objects

Workshop led by Josie Daxter

Dates: Friday 3 – Sunday 5 July 2026, 10am – 5pm
Venue: ArtsAdmin, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London, E1 6AB
Fee: £360

Drawing on the ways in which objects inspire, facilitate and elevate storytelling in Complicité’s creation process, this three-day workshop will offer approaches to using objects as much more than just “props”.

The workshop will look at:

• How objects can be used as tools to build an ensemble and develop a shared physical and visual language – strengthening the connection with each other, with space and with rhythm
• Using objects as the starting point for devising – creating movement and sound worlds from which characters and narratives can be built
• How objects can be a means to explore abstraction and to express the ‘more-than-human’; through their animation, manipulation and transformation

Practical, playful and collaborative, this workshop is open to artists, teachers and makers at any stage of their career.

You must be 18 or older to participate.

About Josie Daxter
Josie Daxter works as a Director and Movement Director and has worked with Complicité for over 16 years.

She has collaborated with the Company as a director (Worn, Northern School of Contemporary Dance), as a performer (A Dog’s Heart; The Master and Margarita) and as a facilitator. She worked on Simon McBurney’s opera productions of The Magic Flute, The Rake’s Progress and A Dog’s Heart and directed revivals at English National Opera, De Nederlandse Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Theater Basel.

As a facilitator for the company, Josie ran a residency for Glad Teater in Copenhagen, runs open workshops and regularly delivers workshops for students studying Complicité at GCSE or A-level.

Director credits include: The Rake’s Progress for Barbara Hannigan, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Equilibrium Artists; Much Ado About Nothing for National Youth Theatre’s Rep Company at Duke of York’s Theatre, London and What Do You See? and Girls for The PappyShow.

Revival and Associate Director credits include: Romeo Castellucci’s Requiem at Adelaide Festival, Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Wiener Festwochen, La Monnaie in Brussels, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Theater Basel and Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona and 101 Dalmatians at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

Movement Director credits include: Our Public House and The Reckoning for Dash Arts; The Monstrous Child at The Royal Opera House and James and the Giant Peach at West Yorkshire Playhouse.

How to Apply
If you are interested in taking part, please send your CV and a short statement (max 500 words) telling us why you would like to take part and how you hope it will influence your practice. Alternatively, you are welcome to send us a video or audio track no longer than 4 minutes. Please send your application to creativeengagement@complicite.org with ‘Storytelling with Objects’ in the subject line.

A limited number of half price bursary places are available for applicants who would otherwise be unable to attend this workshop due to financial circumstances. To apply for a bursary place, please include this in your statement, and note if you are receiving Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or other financial support.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements. If you have any questions regarding access, please email creativeengagement@complicite.org.

The deadline for applications is 9am on Friday 22 May 2026.

We will reply to all applicants by end of day Monday 1 June 2026, notifying them of the outcome of their application.