The Storytellers

2007 Programme

Chris Bennett
Chris Bennett is a professional Storyteller, Performance Poet and Actor and delivers training in these areas. Chris is also a published writer and illustrator and can provide colour or line illustrations to suit any theme.
E-mail: orangeapples@btinternet.co.uk
Tel:02380553154

Booster Cushion Theatre
Booster Cushion Theatre was formed in 1989, specifically to work with children to encourage them to take a greater interest in books. Since then Booster Cushion Theatre has performed to over 300,000 people in schools and theatre`s all over the country providing quality work with care and commitment. All of Booster Cushion Theatre`s shows are solo performing show`s using mime, voice and some sign language
E-Mail boostercushion@hotmail.com
Tel: 01727 873 874

Bournemouth Theatre in Education
BTiE is part of Bournemouth Borough Council’s Children’s Services, based in Boscombe at the Community Arts Centre (BCCA). We have over thirty years experience as actor/teacher/facilitators doing drama and educational theatre for and with young people, from Early Years to teenagers, and adult groups, including disabled adults and recovering addicts. BTiE breaks down barriers between actors and audiences to create a forum for empowerment and change. It’s not about discovering the talented few – it’s about finding the talent in everyone.
Tel: Shaz or Tony on 01202 452719/20
E-mail: shaz.watkins@bournemouth.gov.uk/
tony.horitz@bournemouth.gov.uk

Pippa Brindley
Pippa Brindley has a background in storytelling and creative arts, working as a freelance Educator with families and children across Dorset. She works as Learning and Outreach Officer at Dorset County Museum, where one of her projects is running drop-in family days on Saturdays with arts and crafts activities.

Chloë
A compelling performer and story-maker inspired by medieval French fables and by teaching tales from many cultures and centuries Her stories slide suddenly from the familiar world to fantasy realms of dragons, power and passion. Her style is high energy, her humour desert-dry. Drawing on 20 years of work and travel, Chloë`s tales can be tall or tender, spicy or swashing every buckle in sight... Chloë also creates new stories. Some are commissioned. Some just arrive in her imagination...
E-mail Chloë@midnightstorytellers.co.uk
Tel: Chloë 01451 861185

Jamie Crawford
Jamie Crawford`s passion for the stories he tells have created such a demand for his work that three years ago he gave up teaching and became a full time storyteller. Jamie works with traditional material, from jokes and riddles to wondertales and myths, but draws freely on the genres of film, dance, poetry and stand-up to create his own uniquely compelling style of cutting-edge physical and spoken word performance.

Michael & Wendy Dacre- Raventales
Michael & Wendy Dacre are storytellers and puppeteers, telling a wide variety of tales, myths and legends in a lively, literary style. Their repertoire includes improvised storywalks, lessons in lying and over 400 stories performed in zoos, prisons, castles, hilltops and festivals for many years. This year they bring us a family of Giants!
Tel: 01837 82719
E-mail dacre@raventales.co.uk

Chris Fuller
Mrs Chris Fuller has worked with children and young adults with severe, and profound intellectual and multiple disabilities for 24 years. During this time she has taught in special schools, provided INSET in schools, Institutes of Education and Libraries and worked with parents and other carers.Multi-sensory stories can be enjoyed without being understood, so they are perfect for those with severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties and autism. They are stimulating, engaging and totally interactive; based on the latest academic research and over 30 years` experience.
Tel: 020 7385 4021
E-mail: office@bagbooks.org

Madeleine Grantham
A storyteller who performs traditional folk tales, myths and epics. Performing for both children and adult audiences, in formal and informal settings. A workshop facilitator for storymaking and storytelling skills. A drama teacher with learning disability adults.
Tel: 01202 470975
Mobile: 07757 259205
Email: madeleine.grantham@ntlworld.com

Ben Haggarty
Ben is internationally respected for his playful and lively performances, and for his knowledge of stories and diverse narrative traditions. He has a working repertoire of over 250 folk tales, wonder tales, epics and myths, which he tells to all kinds of audiences, in all kinds of venues ranging from caves to concert halls. He has a particular passion for East European Wonder tales and for Bronze Age and early Iron Age Epic.Ben performs solo, with other storytellers, with musicians and with artists from other disciplines.
Email: ben@crickcrackclub.com

Sharon Jacksties - Tales for Telling
Sharon has been a professional storyteller in schools for 18 years. Her material is drawn from the vast oral repertoire of many cultures, reflecting the shared experiences and concerns expressed within diverse tradition. Her practice with young people is informed by over a decade of working with the Unicorn Children`s Theatre. Collaborations with musicians, dancers and visual artists have ensured a versatile approach to creating performances, workshops and residencies. These can be devised to cover particular themes and topics, or relate to specific projects or the National Curriculum. Tel: 01458 259553
E-Mail: sharonjacksties@hotmail.com

David James
Performance Storyteller, writer and educator David James makes words work! "David James, that master teller of tales, holds his audience spellbound as he weaves his stories." Dorset Echo
E-mail: dj@storytelling.fsnet.co.uk
Tel: 07966 514282

Tim Laycock
Tim is a founder member of the Hambledon Hopstep Band, and plays concertina and melodeon. He also performs with the New Scorpion Band, and can often be found working in schools and community venues in Dorset and the South West, telling traditional stories and playing and singing folk music.
Tel: 01305 267682

Veronica Mills
I have had many years experience in the performing arts. I`ve written, directed, choreographed, produced and acted in many staged performances since studying dance and drama at college.Moving into the field of storytelling, is for me, the ultimate challenge, like the circus trapeze act without the safety net. Researching and taking guided tours round towns like Wimborne and Oxford, which if have done for quite a few years, only comes close. However, developing skills as a storyteller is relatively new to me so 2007 will only be my second year at the Sting in the Tale Festival. My real inspiration comes from authentic history research from any time in Britain`s past and I let the true details emerge in the story, thus proving that Truth certainly is stranger than Fiction.
E-mail: ladydumbleton@ntlworld.com

Michele O`Brien
Michele has recently won a Tourism Award for Poole with her Ghost Walks bringing magical experiences through storytelling. She has been walking for 7 years, telling stories and entertaining many, this award is a recommendation of quality. Michele is an Actor working on holiday projects creating life in the past, through drama.
E-mail:michele.ob@ntlworld.com

Mike O`Leary
Stories, listening to them and telling them, have been part of my life for as long I can remember."
When in mid-life he became a teacher, the value of sharing these stories became obvious. He became a professional storyteller almost to his surprise, as if that`s what he`d been training for all along. He also found that stories were needed not just by children, but by adults, and that there was a need for a storyteller to "shorten the road" in an incredible variety of situations
E-mail: mike@michaelolearystoryteller.com

PuppetCraft
PuppetCraft is one of Britain`s most acclaimed touring puppet troupes, presenting a wide range of shows and workshops to a spectrum of audiences, from children to families, and to adults. It is noted for a combination of beautifully crafted puppets with specially composed music. The content of shows extends from traditional folklore of different countries, to original modern tales. The company varies from 2 to 12 performers, makers, musicians. See Team behind the puppets. Touring throughout the Southwest, nationally and internationally.
Tel: +44(0)1803 867778
E-mail: enquiry@PuppetCraft.co.uk

Graham Rogers
Graham is a professional storyteller specialising in performances for children of four to eleven years of age. He has over thirty different storytelling projects. Storytelling for schools, museums, libraries and many other venues.
E-mail: stories@grahamrogers.co.uk

Treehouse Theatre
Treehouse Theatre specialise in performances that invite the audience to get involved.The driving force behind their work is the wish to see people surprise themselves with their own creativity in a world where people are often convinced that being creative is best left to someone else. They allow people to experience not just passive entertainment but inclusion in an interactive performance that becomes unique because they were there, and perhaps even a part of the team.
E-mail:treehouse.theatre@virgin.net

Cassandra Wye
Since 1991, Cassandra has worked in theatres and festivals, around galleries and museums, in and out of schools, by firelight and starlight, from the depths of the jungle to the middle of the sea. Inspired by Asian interweaving of art forms, she combines elements of circus, theatre and dance to create a style of storytelling that is truly her own. She has toured nationally and internationally. As teacher and trainer, she has inspired children and adults to tell stories around the world.
E-mail:cassandrawye@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: 07971077774