Peter Hilken wrote
I went to the Regional College for an hour this morning to tell some stories and speak a bit about the Project – which is due to start on the 19th of this month, and which will comprise 10 workshops, each lasting 90 minutes.
I have decided to make the telling of jokes a regular component in the workshops, and planned to tell one today. The one I had chosen involves two Arabs and an Israeli Jew, and when I tried out beforehand I was strongly advised not to risk it; I might get myself a reputation for racism. In the end I did tell it, the students (all 50 of them) loved it, and one said it was “a beautiful story”, so I feel this is a promising strand in my planning.
I told three other stories: Jack and the Mermaid (folk, with an ecological message, and an ambiguous ending), Prometheus (Greek myth about the gift of fire to us mortals), and a ghost story, The Luckless Musician.
I also talked about the activities of the Cambridge Storytellers, and our Storytelling Project.
The stories went down well, and at the end 15 (of the 50) said they intended to come to at least the first workshop. There will also be some from the second year, so I am assured of a reasonable group to start with. I just have to make them feel it’s enjoyable and useful.
marionleeper said,
December 10, 2008 at 11:14 pm
2nd Workshop. Richard arrived at lunchtime, and agreed we should work together on my “Narrative to Dialogue” exercise, which gave the participants a choice of ten stories to choose from. We determined we would keep explanation and discussion to a minimum, and get them working in pairs.
We started in a circle of chairs, on the floor of the theatre, rather than having them in the raked seats as last week. This immediately felt better. While we were settling Richard played his guitar, which intrigued them. He spoke briefly about his projects with immigrants, prisoners etc – “people who have time on their hands” – and his five harps. We then together ran through the ten brief story excerpts. After that I handed out the sheet with them on, and the students readily broke up into five pairs, a three and a singleton. They started work at once, and didn’t ask for help, though we three (including Moragh) were hovering. One chap commandeered the harp (which later he made a show of being reluctant to return to Richard: “Come on, you’ve got four others.”) Next week I will give them the “barebones” outlines of their stories, get them to learn the complete story, and be ready to tell it to the full group.
Unfortunately some people had to leave early, to attend a student union meeting. But plenty of talent remained. We had time for six brief performances. All were entertaining, and the standard of confidence, body and verbal language was excellent: I can already see some strong candidates for the Young Storyteller of the Year competition in March. Very encouraging was the quality of listening. I said to them, “Be the audience you would like to perform to. Do as you would be done by.” I hadn’t felt confident that they would see anything in the bits of stories, but there was no hesitation there. And I think they realised that different “worlds” had been conjured up (an example of something I want them to realise, but decided not to make explicit). After the end of the class we had a brief talk with Moragh. She told us that one talented performer is severely dyslexic, so this should be a chance for him to shine. Her own course demands written evidence of work at every stage, so what I am doing makes a healthy change, as far as storytelling goes. It was great having Richard there: the harp, his identity as someone who makes a (sort of) living from storytelling, his cheerful authority when talking about the stories we were using. We agreed that 11th February will be a good moment for his second visit.
marionleeper said,
December 10, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Report on third workshop, 3rd December
Started by praising them for doing so well last week – making a bit of a story their own, telling it in their own words. I feel they were surprised and pleased they had been able to do this, and they’ve come a long way towards understanding what storytelling is.
They were delighted to hear that Richard will be coming again on 11th February: “I love him,” said one.
There were only nine present today, seven boys, two girls. Several were reported to be away sick and may reappear next term, but the smaller group meant a higher proportion were able to perform to the whole group.
We started with a brief physical and vocal warm-up, then went straight into the exercise, which was to tell the whole of the same story they’d told part of last week, starting in pairs, but this time telling the story solo. They told their stories (or part of them) to three different partners, which left just twenty minutes for five of them to tell to the full group. Some had to be disappointed. One was indignant – nicely – at not being given a chance this time. He left saying he’d tell his story on the bus.
There are some great comedians, but I must try next term to get them to work with other moods: pathos, wonder, horror etc.
In the last five minutes of the class I asked them to complete a simple feedback form. 7 rated the workshops as ‘excellent’ and 2 said they were ‘good’. There were no criticisms except that there isn’t enough time. Favourable comments included: good tasks, good stories; workshops are worthwhile and enjoyable; working together as a team, supporting each other; the stories and how we can make them our own; being able to use my skills to create an atmosphere for an audience; fun and interesting; funny stories, good tasks, don’t have to remember the whole story.
I believe this last writer meant they were not required to learn a text word for word. In fact they are forbidden to do so!
I also asked them what they hope to learn. Replies included: other techniques to improve storytelling; to express more when storytelling; to become a good actor; to tell stories in more ways than one; to gain confidence.
There are several factors strongly favouring this project in CRC: Moragh’s excellent relationship with the students, and her participation in the exercises; the support from her line manager and the college generally; the fact that the participants are volunteers, keen and evidently experienced performers. I have to say also that so far my materials and activities seem to be well chosen and working well.