I’ve been asked by artist Anne Marie Lagram to respond to her exciting, thought-provoking new exhibition, developed working with the story of Mitchell’s Fold and the witch who is buried there. It’s fantastic challenge to respond to the artwork through story, I’ve really been enjoying watching the pieces develop and questioning my own assumptions about the story.
Posted in Community, Performance, Visual Art |
The dream team are getting back together! I’m delighted I’m going to be working with fabulous storyteller Fiona Collins again. We have been appointed to create a storytelling garden with Year 1 pupils at Bryn Collen School in Llangollen.
I am fascinated by early years literacy. Writing is an extraordinarily complex skill. I have been working more and more in this area, using play, physicality and outdoor spaces to isolate and hone different component skills and processes. This project gives us the opportunity to implement much of what I have already learned, to learn far more and to have lots of days playing and creating with a group of creative, mischevious, fun children!
Posted in Community, Literacy, Outdoor learning, Workshops |
The Bishops Castle Storytelling Series, ‘Beautiful Lies and Startling Truths’, second season launches on 8th September with Robin Williamson!
All performances are at Bishops Castle Town Hall. Tickets £7.00, £20 for a group ticket of up to 4 people. Bar available. Doors open at 7.30pm for 8.00pm start.
BLAST!
Beautiful Lies and Startling Truths
Bishops Castle Storytelling Series
Fabulous storytelling performances through the dark winter months.
Magical, dreamlike, witty, sometimes disturbing stories for adults – and there is always cake and locally brewed beer!
Thursday 8th September 2016– The Craneskin Bag, Robin Williamson. *7.30pm start
Friday 14th October 2016 – The Falcon Bride, Katy Cawkwell
Friday 11th November 2016 – Travelling Together, Amy Douglas and Helen East
Friday 9th December 2016 – Grimms Sheesha, Peter Chand
Friday 13th January 2017 – How to Spin Enchantment, Tim Ralphs
Friday 10th February 2017– Kings and Promises, Debbie Guneratne,
Friday 10th March 2017 – The Opal Forest, Shonaleigh
Bishops Castle Town Hall, www.bishopscastletownhall.co.uk, Shropshire, SY9 5BG 01588 630023
Door open at 7.30 for 8.00pm start. Tickets £7.00. Tea, beer and homemade cake available.
Posted in Uncategorized |
I’ve been working the English Folk Dance and Song Society as part of their project, The Full English. They have recently completely digitising their huge archive and now it is all online – an amazing resource! The Full English includes all sorts of projects in a wide variety of educational settings to celebrate the access and explore different ways of working with the material.
My project was a collaboration with Queensbridge School, musician John Kirkpatrick and mentee, Beth Gifford. All of Year 7 went off timetable for a week to create a performance based on a ballad printed in Birmingham. Six classes concentrated on different aspects of the performance to create an extravaganza including morris dancing, singing, music, storytelling and drama.
If you would like to read a write-up of the project, please click here. Photos coming soon.
Descriptions of the exercises and games used are here
Posted in Performance, Training, Workshops | Tagged folk arts, secondary school, Year 7 |
I’m delighted to have been commissionsed to compile a book of Shropshire Folktales for the History Press. I’ve just submitted the manuscript and looking forward to seeing what the proofs look like. The book includes thirty of the region’s stories, some old favourites and plenty that are new material for me. Lynn Rust has created some fabulous illustrations and Katherine Soutar of Dancing Cat Designs at Maws Craft Centre in Coalbrookdale is working on the front cover as I type! The book is due for publication in July 2011.
Posted in Writing | Tagged folklore, landscape, Shropshire |
Once again I teamed up with the marvellous Fiona Collins and Wrexham Country Parks. We played, jumped, ran, skipped and danced in six of the country parks with children from local schools, to create a book of new active stories for the parks.
Posted in Uncategorized |
During the spring term Fiona Collins and I mentored a group of year 9/10 students at Selly Park Technology College preparing them for their Bronze Arts Award. Over a period of weeks the students explored a variety of storytelling techniques and organised a performance of stories and riddles within school. The students all came to the Young Storyteller of the Year Competition on 13th March in Birmingham and either performed in the competition or assisted the judges and took part in the deliberation process. The whole day was brilliant – an excellent opportunity to hear professional storytellers, perform stories in a professional theatres and meet other young people interested in storytelling. All our students have now successfully acheived their Bronze Arts Award.
Posted in Community, Performance, Training | Tagged arts award, Mentoring, teenagers |
