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The festival was split into two parts. During the day
pre-arranged groups of children attended an event at Crownhill
Fort. During the evening the Storytellers appeared at three venues
on Plymouth's Barbican; the Art Garden
Café, the Tudor Rose Tea
Rooms, and the Elizabethan Gardens.
(In the case of inclement weather the B
Bar at the Barbican Theatre was to be substituted for the Elizabethan
Gardens)
Regular Stone Soup Storytellers, and the creative force behind the festival, David Doyle and Nik Brooks pictured at one of the gun emplacements at Crownhill Fort. |
David
Doyle - David is originally from Ireland, and was brought up in
a tradition steeped in tales of Tír Na nÓg, the Tuatha de
Danaan, and the the warriors of the Fianna. He studied theatre at Dartington,
and has performed with a number of Westcountry-based theatre companies.
He now lives in Plymouth and regularly appears at Stone Soup storytelling
events. He loves to create characters, and to drop them into a web of stories
so that his audience, settling into a beginning they think they know well,
are surprised when the narrative suddenly jumps across centuries and continents
and, perhaps, even into an entirely different story.
Nik
Brooks - Nik lives on Plymouth's Barbican. He is a storyteller,
actor, writer & musician. His informal, relaxed style of storytelling
explores his love of folk tales, myth and legend. He presents the characters
in his stories in a down to earth way, so that we can identify with them
on a human level, without losing the magic or significance of the tales.
He is fascinated with the most ancient tales, and the transmutation they
have made in their journey across aeons and cultures. He aims to make such
stories accessible by having fun telling them.
Ben Haggarty - Since 1981, Ben has been one of the prime movers
of the revival of the art of professional storytelling in Britain. He is
internationally respected for both his tellings of traditional tales to
adults and children, and for his knowledge and understanding of stories,
and of diverse storytelling traditions. Equipped with an extensive repertoire
of over 350 traditional narratives, that range from 2 minute jests and
folktales to 2 hour long fragments of Epic Mythology, he explores many
themes, evoking many moods.
Andria
Hooper-Threadgill - Andria is a theatre graduate. She lived in Cornwall
for many years, and has worked with the Cornish Theatre Collective, and
Kneehigh Theatre Company. She has also been a resident Storyteller at the
Eden Project, where she created stories reflecting the importance of plants
in our everyday lives - "We wear, eat and drink them, use them for shelter,
to heal, beautify, and perfume ourselves. They even make the air we breathe."
She is now based in Salisbury in Wiltshire.
Don Newton - Don has been a full-time storyteller since 1987, working
mainly in Westcountry schools, but also quite a lot for English Heritage
and National Trust. He tells only traditional tales from a variety of cultures;
folk-tales, fairy-tales, myths, and legends. He is firmly committed to
the belief that through listening to stories, well told, children will
absorb a greater vocabulary and increase their communication skills, as
well as having a great time.
Peter Oswald - Peter is a playwright and performer, and writer-in-residence
at the Globe Theatre in London. His plays, in verse and prose, have been
performed at the National Theatre, the Barn Theatre in Dartington, the
Globe, and all around the world. He will be performing some of his story
poems based on Italian folktales about such things as a young man sold
to the devil and rescued by a fairy in the shape of an eagle, a love affair
between the son of an ogress and the daughter of a shoemaker, and a magic
sack. He has performed his stories already at the Rose Theatre in Southwark,
the Art Garden Cafe in Plymouth, the Fat Lemons Cafe and the Royal Seven
Stars in Totnes.
Clive
Fairweather - Clive spent 30 years as a teacher of English and History.
He has worked extensively with English Heritage and The National Trust
on historical interpretation projects, sometimes performing as ‘Old Fairweather’,
a 19th century farm labourer, or as ‘Augustus Hare’, the notable Victorian
storyteller. He offers living interaction with the past, and stories that
convey the hopes, dramas, terrors, and delights of other times. He has
a dazzling repertoire of tales and, with the twin strategies of laughter
and argument, he gets children thinking and talking seriously.
Jill Lamede - Jill is a storyteller, writer, and actor. She is the
resident storyteller at the Camelot Castle Hotel in Tintagel; "pick a story
from the story-basket, listen, and the words will carry you away to a land
of imagination." She has written a number of books, including 'Tales of
the Tintagel Dragon', which explains many of the actual unusual events
that have occurred around Tintagel, and that part of the Cornish coast,
over the years. - Why is the roof of Tintagel’s Old Post Office so curvy?
Why is there a hole in the waterfall at St Nectan’s Glen? What caused the
plane crash in Tintagel in 1979? The answer to all these questions is:
The Tintagel Dragon did it! - She has also produced a CD entitled 'Stories
from the Tintagel Storyteller', and containing tales of wonder and magic
for all the family.
Michael Dacre - Michael started storytelling in 1988, following
a series of workshops with 'The Company of Storytellers'. Soon after he
became the resident storyteller at The Beaford Arts Centre in North Devon.
He tells traditional tales in a powerful, lively and literary style, that
is entertaining and well-researched, embracing a love of language and strong
narrative, sometimes scary, often hilarious and usually both. His
hoard of stories - currently around 450 - is mainly British and European
but he also tells Native American stories and tales from other cultures
too. Michael is sometimes accompanied, musically, by his wife Wendy (pictured),
but will be flying solo at this event.
Graham -Teller of Tales - Graham has a background in youth work
and education, using story to explain and challenge. He is a storyteller
of fire and energy, exploring myths and legends from his native Cornwall,
and across the globe, alongside his own wondrous creations. His dramatic
style and vivid imagery draw an expectant hush from the audience as they
journey through fantastical lands. Prepare to be transported to a time
of dragons, the legends of the Iroquois, through ancient Celtic myths,
and amazing realms of his own invention.
