Festivals - Day 5

Festivals - Day 5

The Met Office said it would be a few scattered light showers - I wasn't worried... I was going to be telling at a PlayFest in a tipi in a quiet corner and had a special parking permit to let me park fairly near at hand.

Really! There was no parking space nearer than a good ten minute walk away. As I parked, the rain started. I packed everything neatly into my large, wheeled, wicker basket, put on a rain coat, gathered up the dogs and set off along the wet grass.

As I turned a corner onto rough ground, the wind got up and blew the cover off the basket and several of my soft toy/props scattered into a puddle.

After gathering them up and trying to make the basket secure, we struggled onto the playing field - despite the rain it was packed with children, stilt walkers, clowns, dancers etc amongst all the stalls - and amplified music everywhere.

No one knew where I was supposed to go... but I recognised the tipi at the far end of the field and made my way across. The entrance was so small, I had to get down on hands and knees and then try to drag the big basket inside without spilling everything again.

By now I was wet... the dogs were wet... my props were wet... and the tipi flaps were open, so the inside of the tipi was wet - and the amplified music was blasting out close by.

No matter - I set up and put out my sign and chalked the start time onto the little slate - and the rain washed it straight off again.

The rain never stopped all afternoon - a steady, drenching, wind-blown rain.

But soon the audience arrived, eager to get out of the rain - only to find it was raining inside the tipi. They all managed to find reasonably sheltered spots - I was the only one fully exposed to the elements.

Despite all this, the stories were warmly received and we managed to have some fun. Eventually someone came to close the tipi flaps,  I found a stall that could provide a cup of tea, and the damp storytelling continued. Everyone gave up eventually and the event closed down an hour early.

The forecast for tomorrow is a lot better.

UPDATE

UPDATE

Surprise! A late night email from from the organiser of that food & crafts festival asking me to do another day next week... no explanation... perhaps the other storyteller cancelled... perhaps he had good reports of my storytelling... but I am delighted!

And, I forgot to mention a lovely moment under that chestnut tree - A cheeky, silly joke/story had been selected from the basket, one concerning pirates and a brave captain donning his red shirt. Only children over the age of 10 get the punchline unaided and, as it implies uncontrolled bodily functions, I no longer offer to explain it myself. (I was once severely reprimanded by a parent for daring to explain!) 

This time not one of the children got the punchline - but an eavesdropping father nearby was convulsed with laughter. So I asked him to explain... but he would only agree to whisper to his daughter. She then collapsed in giggles and agreed to whisper the explanation to her friend... and so the explanation travelled like Chinese Whispers  along the length of the line of children until every one of them was laughing out loud. It was magical!

Festivals - Days 3 & 4

Festivals - Days 3 & 4

Another festival - this time it was about food and crafts - in the grounds of a small stately home 65 miles away again. I was not scheduled to start until 11am, but if I wanted to get my car onto the site I needed to arrive before 9.30am - so a very early start!

I had no idea what to expect... all I knew was that their usual storyteller couldn't do these two days and that I would be the sole storyteller and expected to tell stories until 3.30pm, drumming up an audience with walkabouts.

Once again the traffic was kind and I arrived early and was permitted to park in a tiny space hidden behind a marquee - but where was I supposed to be telling?

It was a wonderful, prominent site - at the top of a sloping lawn, under a great chestnut tree, in front of  a high garden wall. There was a large display of plants for sale nearby, so most people came up to have a look.

There was a small stage and amplified music... but I couldn't hear it from under the tree.

Arriving so early allowed me time to walk the dogs, explore the stalls and have a cup of coffee. Then it was time to drum up an audience. I was told the usual storyteller used a conch shell, or something similar, to summon an audience to him, but that is really not my style.

I took my lovely Great Horned Owl puppet, Archimedes, for a walk around all the stalls - everyone wanted to talk to him as he blinked and bowed and swiveled his head, which gave me the opportunity to announce quietly that storytelling would start in ten minutes.

By the time I had put Archy back to bed, gathered up the dogs and picked up my storybasket, a small crowd had gathered under the tree and the stories started - and went on and on... some people would leave after a few stories, but others would take their place. It was fun to watch adults nearby pretending not to listen as they inched closer and closer. And there were always some behind me, listening but not part of the crowd.

I did manage a very brief lunch break and then had to drum up an audience again, but I was telling stories, almost non-stop, for 4 hours!

The next day took exactly the same shape... but with more people and an even shorter lunch break. I sold several books and CDs and had lots of compliments.

The selection of stories in my basket is now just right. There are stories for all ages and even the simplest, silly ones intended for the pre-schoolers seem to work for everyone (much to my surprise!)

I am very tired. These three festival days have been long and exhausting. There are two more days to do this week, but I do know what to expect. I shall be in a tipi and they have promised that it will be in a quiet spot away from the music. The venue is only 35 miles away and I don't have to start until 1pm, finishing at 5pm.

I will let you know how I get on.

Festivals Day 2

Festivals - Day 2

This was essentially a small music festival some 65 miles away - which meant allowing 2 hours for the journey as the roads are narrow and the holiday traffic can be heavy.

I was a bit nervous as I really had no idea what to expect but the advance information seemed very thorough - and I would be working with 4 other storytellers. The schedule said I would be doing 3 sessions of just 20 minutes each over a 5 hour day - a really easy task.

The traffic moved smoothly... so I arrived early, which was helpful as the storytelling marquee was not in the place listed in the advance information and no one seemed to know where it was.  Eventually a map of the site was found and the marquee identified - not far away and quite attractive with one side wide open and plenty of rugs and cushions scattered around - but is was quite a distance from the car park so I was glad I had

packed everything into a large basket on wheels.

One of the other storytellers was booked to do walkabout stuff and had his own marquee, so we never actually met. Another was an author who needed to get away early - so the schedule was already useless. That left 3 of us and it worked beautifully... we took turns to tell stories or sing songs and all 3 of us stayed in the marquee together most of the time.

It was very relaxed - a constant flow of small groups of audience, both children and adults - and I thoroughly enjoyed having a chance to meet and work with other tellers - but.... this was a music festival! 

The main stage was on the other side of the field, but the volume was so loud it made it very difficult to tell stories and before long my head was pounding and my throat suffering from trying to compete.

Festivals - Day 1

Festivals - Day 1

Well... not really a festival. It was a weekend camp for people with special needs, their families and carers - and I really didn't know what to expect.

I packed the storybasket with stories and props suitable for primary schools plus a few of my favourite pre-school tales and this proved to be just the right mix.

Usually I ask audience members to select the next story from the basket, but thought that on this occasion I would need to choose the stories myself once I had a chance to see who had come to listen.

As usual - I was wrong. The moment I uncovered the basket someone was leaping up and pointing to the small bunch of flowers I use for The Empty Pot - so that was the first story. From then on everyone was eager to choose a story, ending, after an hour, with Turtle of Koka, which had everyone (all ages - all abilities) laughing and joining in.

This has boosted my confidence. I feel that I now know what stories to take to the festivals. It was a really helpful start to this summer season.

Thoughts

Thoughts 

I have survived the long series of sessions with pre-schoolers. The staff say they are very happy and have invited me to return next term for a one-off special storytelling.

Certainly I have made many mistakes - but that is what learning is all about - and many of my difficulties were the result of having the same children over and over again. Somehow I had expected that they would love to have the stories repeated, just as they do with bedtime stories. I was wrong... they wanted new stories every time, which stretched my abilities and forced me to do a lot of research.

Now that was very good for me! It has stimulated me into reading and finding more stories for my main storybasket. I had become lazy. With over 12 hours of stories in the basket, I was happy to keep on telling those old favourites. It is time to find new ones.

The next stage of my learning starts now. I have been booked for 10 days of community festivals over the summer - just the sort of events I have found most difficult because of the confusion, noise and the presence of very small children in the audience who do not enjoy most of my stories.

That was my main reason for  trying to learn how to tell in a pre-school, and I am feeling better prepared. There will be some suitable stories for the very young ones in my basket. I have now had lots of practice in coping with a distracted young audience. Let's see if I can start to enjoy telling to mixed family groups.

The first festival is in a few days - a camping weekend for people with special needs, their families and their carers. It should be great fun. I will let you know...

Third Group - Final Session

Third Group - Final Session

So... here it is... the last session of this learning process.

It was the large group again, with all the familiar faces, so I was glad I had managed to find new stories for them.

First I introduced a new magic story sound - from a lovely, small, odd-shaped gong a friend had made for me. It has a beautiful ringing throb that I love.

 The children loved it too.

Then, into the stories, starting with The Old Woman and her Pig - an old traditional tale that can be found in the Joseph Jacobs collections amongst many other places. I remember loving it as a child, even though the book I had then included the gory bits with the butcher, the hanged man and the rat. For this audience I adapted the story to miss out all that stuff and the sequence went: pig, dog, stick, fire, water, horse, horse-fly, spider, cat, milk, cow, hay. The sequence was, perhaps, a little too long. It held their attention up to the horse, but then some became fidgety and the rest of it was hard to get across.

As expected, there then came the familiar demand for Mighty Mouse... but I was prepared. I repeated the section from last week - Mighty Mouse and the Lion, as some of the children had missed it, and then added a version of another Aesop Fable, The Bull and the Mouse, with Mighty Mouse teasing the bull - and continued with my own addition - Mighty Mouse and the Elephant, in which the now over-confident and cheeky Mighty Mouse teases the elephant, eventually running up inside his trunk to nip the inside of his nose. this was popular, but, again, just a little bit too long. I must learn to be happy with shorter tales.

Another of Papa Joe's tales came next, Pocamondas, about a little boy making stupid mistakes. This worked well even though some of the children were getting tired and distracted.

And then I made a mistake... instead of finishing at that point, I allowed myself to be persuaded to tell another story. I chose the old joke, The Wide Mouthed Frog. At first it went fairly well with those children who were still enjoying the stories. But others had had enough and I wasn't able to reach the end. I still have much to learn but I have gone as far as I can with this group.