When the November meeting produced only two of us at the start of it [though a third teller arrived half an hour later, and two listeners arrived at 9pm] it became clear that the Club could no longer lay claim to the wonderful venue of The Shoemakers' Hall at The Pheasant in Salt Lane, Salisbury. I was told that the room was booked by someone else for a Christmas function on December 10th in any case, and Poetika [the literary open-mike night, see it on Facebook] has snapped up the second Tuesday in January, which would have been a chance for a re-launch. Dylan Theodore has booked the second Tuesday in February as a fund-raising event including story-telling, and I'll be there as a performer, I hope - but I'm looking for a smaller, less high-profile venue, with lower expectations, and probably a different night. The truth is that attendance at story-telling groups fluctuates wildly and inexplicably: Southampton Story Club had 20plus in October - and 6 in November - and the same in December [as I hear - I couldn't be present, because I was playing a title role in Winterslow's panto, Beauty and the Beast - I'm sure you can guess which one!]
More news when I have some!
Thursday, 12 December 2013
Friday, 1 November 2013
Hallo, Halloween!
The National Trust's event, outdoors in a wood near Wellow, was cancelled for lack of interest - which was just as well, because the indoor one at The Museum of Army Flying in Wallop was subscribed to the limit, and I ended up doing two end-on sessions for each age-group, telling for three hours virtually without a break - to tell the truth, stopping was the hard bit!
They were lovely, attentive audiences, and I did my best to give them what they deserved. For the younger ones, I sandwiched Beautiful Vasilissa between two brand-new stories that I had invented the previous morning while walking the dogs. These were Jeremy Swaps His Clothes and Mine!, and sooner or later I will write down versions of them and post them on my mikerotheatre blogspot. Jeremy developed a whole extra area of character around his relationship with his mother, which simply hadn't been there when I told the bare bones of it to my friend, James Willson, while driving two dead freezers to the corporation tip in the morning. [I'm enormously grateful to James for his love of stories, since it lets me try them out, without having to go around talking to myself...]. I definitely sensed empathy from adults and children where that difficult relationship was concerned - and in this story, as in Mine! I deliberately tried to leave the audience with work to do, if they were to understand what was going on. Mine! was perhaps more traditional, but, as I always do, I gave it psychological motivation: there ought to be a reason why someone is the victim of a ghost, it shouldn't just be mere chance! I also tidied up Vasilissa as I was telling it, managing, I hope, to incorporate the three mysterious riders slightly more seamlessly than many versions I have read. I trimmed the tests to one [separating onion seed and poppy seed - not least because I actually know what they both look like!] and effectively cut to the chase... Thought for the future: which of the skulls does she take and why? [Whose skulls are they, anyway? Would they plead their cause? If I'd had longer, we might all have found out...]
For the 8+, I was very bold and decided to tell only two stories, both of them quite demanding and moving, the first with a definitely unhappy ending, the second for sure with a happy one. The first, with a personal frame, is told in a pub near Wayland's Smithy, by the great-grand-daughter of the woman who experienced it; and a pretty young archaeologist, called Adela, who is drinking in the same pub, contributes the vital information needed to make disturbing sense of the events. [Even so, I like to thin that some of my listeners went home asking their Mums and Dads, "Is that why....?" I want to tell stories that stay in the mind and stick like a burr.] The happy one was Mary of Eling, which I stole years ago from Rob Iliffe and too seriously, whereas he told it a little jokily. It has a superb structure and more or less tells itself - but I still get a catch in the throat and a tear in the eye at the climax.
Perhaps it was a bit severe, filling the forty-odd minutes with so few stories - but wouldn't you rather have two really good pieces of home-cooking than a trayful of sickly bought desserts?
My thanks to Rebecca of the Museum, who has hired me for the second year now! Let's hope she makes it a third - with some other stuff in between!
They were lovely, attentive audiences, and I did my best to give them what they deserved. For the younger ones, I sandwiched Beautiful Vasilissa between two brand-new stories that I had invented the previous morning while walking the dogs. These were Jeremy Swaps His Clothes and Mine!, and sooner or later I will write down versions of them and post them on my mikerotheatre blogspot. Jeremy developed a whole extra area of character around his relationship with his mother, which simply hadn't been there when I told the bare bones of it to my friend, James Willson, while driving two dead freezers to the corporation tip in the morning. [I'm enormously grateful to James for his love of stories, since it lets me try them out, without having to go around talking to myself...]. I definitely sensed empathy from adults and children where that difficult relationship was concerned - and in this story, as in Mine! I deliberately tried to leave the audience with work to do, if they were to understand what was going on. Mine! was perhaps more traditional, but, as I always do, I gave it psychological motivation: there ought to be a reason why someone is the victim of a ghost, it shouldn't just be mere chance! I also tidied up Vasilissa as I was telling it, managing, I hope, to incorporate the three mysterious riders slightly more seamlessly than many versions I have read. I trimmed the tests to one [separating onion seed and poppy seed - not least because I actually know what they both look like!] and effectively cut to the chase... Thought for the future: which of the skulls does she take and why? [Whose skulls are they, anyway? Would they plead their cause? If I'd had longer, we might all have found out...]
For the 8+, I was very bold and decided to tell only two stories, both of them quite demanding and moving, the first with a definitely unhappy ending, the second for sure with a happy one. The first, with a personal frame, is told in a pub near Wayland's Smithy, by the great-grand-daughter of the woman who experienced it; and a pretty young archaeologist, called Adela, who is drinking in the same pub, contributes the vital information needed to make disturbing sense of the events. [Even so, I like to thin that some of my listeners went home asking their Mums and Dads, "Is that why....?" I want to tell stories that stay in the mind and stick like a burr.] The happy one was Mary of Eling, which I stole years ago from Rob Iliffe and too seriously, whereas he told it a little jokily. It has a superb structure and more or less tells itself - but I still get a catch in the throat and a tear in the eye at the climax.
Perhaps it was a bit severe, filling the forty-odd minutes with so few stories - but wouldn't you rather have two really good pieces of home-cooking than a trayful of sickly bought desserts?
My thanks to Rebecca of the Museum, who has hired me for the second year now! Let's hope she makes it a third - with some other stuff in between!
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Sarum Story Club
Two meetings so far, on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, in the Shoemakers' Hall at the Pheasant Inn in Salt Lane, Salisbury, and the third one booked for October 8th at 7.30 [I have regulars who like to be away early, to eat about 9pm, so they have to miss the second half.]
15 the first time, with 5 tellers including me, 12 the second, split over the time, and only me doing the telling [not, I am afraid, a hardship!]
See the Sarum Story Club Facebook page for details.
Maybe the October meeting should be a dry-run for my double Halloween bookings...
15 the first time, with 5 tellers including me, 12 the second, split over the time, and only me doing the telling [not, I am afraid, a hardship!]
See the Sarum Story Club Facebook page for details.
Maybe the October meeting should be a dry-run for my double Halloween bookings...
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Museum of Army Flying 7th August
What joy! Nobody who turned up seemed to want to do Creative Writing [which was sad] but they were ALL up for listening to stories, which was GREAT! And such listeners they were! Still when required and responsive as needed. They guessed the riddle and they worked out what was going to happen next when I wanted them to - and didn't when I didn't!
I told: The Tailor's Three Sons; The Little Red Hen and the Sultan's Diamond Button [a long way after Christobel Thomas]; The King and the Moon [reasonably faithfully after Taffy Thomas - who is no relation to Christobel, and is a great storyteller to be found on Google]; The Golden Bird [like The Tailor's Three Sons a story to be found in the Brothers Grimm, but I do stuff with it... and import details from the Russian version]; finally, [also to be found in Grimm under the title The Devil's Three Hairs, but again, I do stuff with it] The Lucky Boy.
There WILL be snapshots!
I told: The Tailor's Three Sons; The Little Red Hen and the Sultan's Diamond Button [a long way after Christobel Thomas]; The King and the Moon [reasonably faithfully after Taffy Thomas - who is no relation to Christobel, and is a great storyteller to be found on Google]; The Golden Bird [like The Tailor's Three Sons a story to be found in the Brothers Grimm, but I do stuff with it... and import details from the Russian version]; finally, [also to be found in Grimm under the title The Devil's Three Hairs, but again, I do stuff with it] The Lucky Boy.
There WILL be snapshots!
Friday, 19 July 2013
I shall be needing a broomstick...
... to get from Foxbury, where I am now telling at 4.15 on Halloween, to the Museum of Army Flying, where the event starts at 6, and I start at 6.30...
Monday, 15 July 2013
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Sarum Story Club
First meeting: Tuesday 13th August
Place: Shoemakers' Hall, at The Pheasant Inn, Salt Lane, SALISBURY
Time: 7.30 doors open for 7.45 start
Theme: Well, I will have a set of stories ready to do with shoes - but any other storytellers who turn up can tell what they like!
Place: Shoemakers' Hall, at The Pheasant Inn, Salt Lane, SALISBURY
Time: 7.30 doors open for 7.45 start
Theme: Well, I will have a set of stories ready to do with shoes - but any other storytellers who turn up can tell what they like!
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Open Day at Riverbourne Community Farm, Laverstock, Salisbury
Last Sunday I was in the Large Barn, telling stories from 10.30 to 3.30. The punters had to get past the Sausage Stall and the Model Engineers to reach me amid my straw-bale seating, but they did - actually, I went out in my shiny hat and stood by the signboard announcing me and dragged them in... I had thought that giving fixed times would encourage them to turn up, being sure of being in at the start of a story, and not having to wander in halfway through, but I don't think they bothered to look at all. At least, being right by the entrance to the farm-building complex, I got people wandering by - except for those who went straight to look at the vintage tractors.
How many did I tell to? I don't know. I handed over the collecting bucket sealed and unopened, so I have to rely on my memory of which stories I told, and they were as follows:
Crow and Cheese [twice, because it's good for really young ones]
Moon, Parrot, Monkey, Snake, Mouse etc. [from Taffy Thomas]
How the Wolf Lost His Tail [another cheese one]
Bremen City Musicians
The Jigsaw Puzzle [which was originally a blonde joke]
The Widow of Lymington [the longest one I told]
What are you scared of? [which I lifted from Red Phoenix]
Brave Little Tailor [twice, because it's also good for the little ones]
One young kid said, as I finished, "Fantastic!" which was really nice.
So, ten separate groups, anywhere between two and five in each, including the adults.
This was my way of volunteering for the Farm, and I'd like to do it again!
How many did I tell to? I don't know. I handed over the collecting bucket sealed and unopened, so I have to rely on my memory of which stories I told, and they were as follows:
Crow and Cheese [twice, because it's good for really young ones]
Moon, Parrot, Monkey, Snake, Mouse etc. [from Taffy Thomas]
How the Wolf Lost His Tail [another cheese one]
Bremen City Musicians
The Jigsaw Puzzle [which was originally a blonde joke]
The Widow of Lymington [the longest one I told]
What are you scared of? [which I lifted from Red Phoenix]
Brave Little Tailor [twice, because it's also good for the little ones]
One young kid said, as I finished, "Fantastic!" which was really nice.
So, ten separate groups, anywhere between two and five in each, including the adults.
This was my way of volunteering for the Farm, and I'd like to do it again!
Monday, 13 May 2013
The New Flier revised and a new website too
Friday, 26 April 2013
Museum of Army Flying
It seems I will be telling Tales for Halloween there again this year [31st October, duh!] and also running a Creative Writing Workshop there on the afternoon of 7th August! Hooray!
Friday, 22 February 2013
Sunday, 20 January 2013
IRRELEVANT ADVERT
It's irrelevant because it's a "closed performance", as they say in Vienna about shows that are pre-booked subscriptions for particular groups, e.g. soldiers, trades unionists, schoolchildren etc.
However, you may be interested to know that i am celebrating National Storytelling Week by telling Arabian Nights Stories every lunchtime in Wildern School Library on the Scheherezade model: interlocked, interlinked, never an end without another beginning, just to keep my hearers hooked.
Now, back to my preparations...
However, you may be interested to know that i am celebrating National Storytelling Week by telling Arabian Nights Stories every lunchtime in Wildern School Library on the Scheherezade model: interlocked, interlinked, never an end without another beginning, just to keep my hearers hooked.
Now, back to my preparations...
NARROW ESCAPE
Last Thursday, the third Thursday of the month, is New Forest Storytellers in Ringwood, and they usually let me tell there, which is nice of them. It's a fifty-mile round-trip for me [Southampton is around forty-five, Winchester about forty - but most of that is done at sixty, on roads through the middle of nowhere] but the company is good and the venue very pleasant [the Boston Tea Party's attic, or occasionally the upper floor, with easy chairs, which was the case last Thursday, because it was warmer].
Warmth was, of course, important, because everyone knew that snow was threatening, impending and imminent [not to be confused with immAnent, of course - thank goodness I know Latin!] As I bought my fish and chips at 5 o'clock from The Frying Machine [the fish and chip that visits Winterslow conveniently enough on storytelling nights, first and third Thursdays] the snow was already falling, and lying on the carpark of the Nelson, where I park my car when I'm buying fish and chips - the van is outside the shop, and I didn't want to be awkward for the customers of either.
Therefore, I was half-minded about going, but I overcame my hesitation and drove - through flying snow, thick in my headlights - up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill - into snow-free Salisbury, and then had the courage to continue to frost-free Ringwood, and tell The Lucky Boy to close their evening [I listened to all the others - I wasn't late or anything] - and drove back up ice-free hill and down ice-free dale - to wake up in the morning SNOWED IN!!!
And very glad I went.
Warmth was, of course, important, because everyone knew that snow was threatening, impending and imminent [not to be confused with immAnent, of course - thank goodness I know Latin!] As I bought my fish and chips at 5 o'clock from The Frying Machine [the fish and chip that visits Winterslow conveniently enough on storytelling nights, first and third Thursdays] the snow was already falling, and lying on the carpark of the Nelson, where I park my car when I'm buying fish and chips - the van is outside the shop, and I didn't want to be awkward for the customers of either.
Therefore, I was half-minded about going, but I overcame my hesitation and drove - through flying snow, thick in my headlights - up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill, up the hill, down the hill - into snow-free Salisbury, and then had the courage to continue to frost-free Ringwood, and tell The Lucky Boy to close their evening [I listened to all the others - I wasn't late or anything] - and drove back up ice-free hill and down ice-free dale - to wake up in the morning SNOWED IN!!!
And very glad I went.
RAFFLE PRIZE
When I was Merlin, in the Winterslow panto at the beginning of December, they held an auction of promises, and I offered two hours of storytelling. Well, they obviously thought no one would bid for that, having no idea what it was worth, so they made me a raffle prize - and now I have been claimed!
So, on January 26th I shall tell stories for two hours at an 8 year old girl's birthday party - and I hope she enjoys it!
So, on January 26th I shall tell stories for two hours at an 8 year old girl's birthday party - and I hope she enjoys it!
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