The Storytellers

2010 Programme

Giles Abbott
From childhood and through adulthood, no art can rival storytelling’s ability to entrance and transport listeners, nor the simplicity and immediacy with which it does so! And all traditional storytelling is created in subtle dialogue between teller and audience. When you hear Giles Abbott tell you a story, it is happening individually, uniquely, for you. Giles is a brilliant and talented storyteller of the ancient oral tradition. He provides entertainment for schools and festivals as well as valuable services for businesses and media.

Christopher Awdry
Christopher has written many books, not just about Thomas but about other railways: but always with the same charm that has delighted children for years.

Adrian Beckingham, The Man From Story Mountain
Adrian has travelled throughout the centuries and across the millenia, gathering these treasures from storytellers in cultures around every corner of the Earth. Today he uses storytelling, art, dance, and exhibitions working in schools, youth clubs, hospitals, theatres, festivals, libraries, prisons and castles, opening locked doors and showing people the brilliance of their new horizons.
E-mail: inspire@themanfromstorymountain.org.uk
"Adrian is a very accomplished storyteller. He does great work at opening closed hearts." Francis Firebrace, Aboriginal Elder of the Yorta Yorta people, Lightening Ridge, Australia.

Booster Cushion Theatre
Booster Cushion Theatre works with children to encourage them to take 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 show`s using mime, voice and some sign language. All the shows involve a high level of audience participation on the part of the children and are designed to foster a feeling of strong involvement.
E-mail:boostercushion@hotmail.com
Tel:01727 873 874

Chloë of the Midnight Storytellers
Feisty, funny and wickedly feminine - Chloë is a charismatic and original entertainer with mesmerising stage presence. In cabaret, as a speciality act, and as an after dinner speaker she blends traditional storytelling with stand-up comedy. Her easy rapport and desert dry humour enchant audiences. She is the rebel raconteur of modern performance storytelling for adults, a pioneer in spoken word entertainment.

Jamie Crawford
Jamie has been telling traditional stories to people of all ages at schools, theatres, festivals, museums and conservation sites for over twenty years. "Together with my audience, I dramatize the stories: each telling is new, exciting and unique. My style is lively and interactive, using elements of poetry, clowning, stand-up, dance and film."
Tel: 01273 514586
E-mail: stories@jamiecrawford.co.uk

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

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:madeleineg@live.co.uk

Hand To Mouth Theatre
is Martin Bridle and Su Eaton. Together, they have been producing intelligent popular theatre for more than 25 years. They continue to innovate and delight. They combine acting, music and puppets to create shows for family audiences for; festivals, theatres, and schools.

Tony Horitz
Is a freelance drama facilitator, storyteller, performer playwright, and director. He has been working in educational drama and community for over 35 years. Tony is experienced at working with all ages, from pre-school to post 18; from young adults to elders.

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

Fran O` Boyle
Fran is a professional storyteller and illustrator, who over the years has perfected his storytelling art in all sorts of venues such as, schools, libraries, festivals, village events, prisons and stately homes and gardens. His distinctive Illustrations have appeared in various locations and books. Email:FranOBoyle@hotmail.co.uk

The New Forest Storytellers
are Graham Rogers, Peter Gritton, Madeleine Grantham and Taprishia
E-mail::newforeststorytellers@googlemail.com

Mike O` Leary: The Hagstone Storyteller
"Stories, listening to them and telling them, have been part of my life for as long I can remember." Email: mike@michaelolearystoryteller.com

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

Sea Legs Puppet Theatre
Founded in 2001 by Rob Ashman, Sea Legs is a high quality small touring puppet theatre specialising in bringing fairytales to life. Sea Legs Puppet Theatre performs at children’s and family events nationwide. Usually performances take place at schools, theatres and children’s parties but can be anywhere there is a suitable event and venue.

Stone Soup
is based in Plymouth, Devon, UK. Its two principal Storytellers are both ‘blow-ins’ from the larger urban settings of Dublin and London, from where they draw much of their individual, and collective, inspiration. As a result Stone Soup`s performances are an amalgam of Traditional (Timelessness of the Folktale) and Contemporary (Fast-paced City Vibrancy).

Taprisha
Has been telling stories from around the world for the last 36 years Recently returned to the New Forest she brings home with her experiences of living in Uganda, in the mountains and boggy places of Ireland, the snowy flat plains of Ontario and the flaming red maple ridges of Western New York (lands of the Seneca Iroquois Nation.) Her travels have given her a deep love of our planet and the diverse peoples that live there.

Tel:02380 811286
E-mail: taprisha@googlemail.com

Wimborne Community Theatre (WCT) was set up in 1991 by a group of Wimborne residents to produce theatre in sites of special interest, exploring past, present and future stories through performance, involving schools and community.If you would like to join a friendly, co operative group committed to developing fresh creative ideas, researching local stories and making innovative site specific productions,
Contact: 01202 874145 for more details.
They welcome people with little or no experience in these areas, as well as people with creative skills to share.