BRINGING STORIES TO THEATRE

I have been passionate about storytelling for 20 years. My shelves are groaning under the weight of tales from around the world. Storytelling is the foundation of all drama. Before our dependence on the written word it was used to entertain, inform and educate people of all ages. Storytellers conveyed the news, religion, theatre and teaching all in one form. Stories bound cultures together. Sadly in our culture direct, oral storytelling is almost dead. We hardly have the confidence to tell our children stories without referring to books.

Storytelling is very close to my heart, I enjoy unearthing old stories that have lain dormant for many years and breathing life in to them by telling them to whoever will listen. But I also use ancient storytelling techniques to bring modern stories to life.

I have toured internationally to over 30 countries from Philippines to Siberia from Cambodia to Marrakech. Sometimes telling stories to street children, sometimes to business people, sometimes at festivals sometimes in theatres, sometimes under a tree, to grown ups and to kids, even to people who couldn’t understand a word I was saying.