Performance Sets

Overall repertoire is extensive and adaptable, but here are some examples of “off the peg” sets!

view video “Deirdre”

Commissioned by Festival at the Edge 2007, an original retelling of one of the greatest love stories in the traditional canon, a story whose feet are in the Iron Age yet whose eyes are firmly fixed on now. For a young woman, is beauty a gift, or a curse? If a curse, why? Adult themes, age 14+.
Duration – 1½ hours

play sample “The Tricking of King Gylfi”

Lightning, Lies and Unconvincing Drag Artists from Norse Mythology. Enter the world of the Vikings, through tales centred on Thor and Loki. Suitable for adults and children 9+.
Duration – 1½ hours

play sample “Further Tales of Lightning & Lies”

Further Norse myths, including the Building of Asgard’s Walls, the Death of Balder, plus the story of Trembling Hood and others. Suitable for adults and children 9+.
Duration – 1½ hours

play sample “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”

A glorious Norwegian folktale, funny, emotional and always gripping, with full-throttle narrative pace! Adults and children 11+
Duration – 45 minutes

play sample “Tales of Love and Age”

A journey around the British Isles, featuring stories from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, all linked by the themes of love and age. Suitable for adults and children 14+. Duration – 45 minutes or an hour and a half.

play sample “From Borges To Bugs”

Commissioned by the Instituto Cervantes in 2002, this set links the fiction of the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges to the “magical realism” school of writing, and links “magical realism” to folk story and the oral tradition. Contains stories from Borges and folk stories from Guatemala which themselves link to incredibly well known components of contemporary North American, and thus global, culture (think carrots, wisecracks), thus reflecting the syncretic quality of North and South American culture. Performed first at the Instituto’s headquarters in Manchester, then at the University of Liverpool. Also for Birmingham Book Festival. Suitable for adults and children 16+.
Duration 1 hour

play sample “The Two Armies”

This story, a pleasure in itself, is also an ideal mechanism for exploring issues of diversity, toleration and issues such as bullying. It packs a very powerful message, discreetly put. Two armies face each other on the field of battle, each soldier on each side sworn to die rather than surrender. Yet two soldiers, over a camp-fire, some shared sandwiches and a lot of shared stories, find means to do neither. A story, packed with border-crossing tales, showing similarities beneath apparent difference. Can be tailored to suit any age, and duration can be anything between twenty minutes and two hours.