Storytelling evening with the Oh-Aissieux and the McGregor in the Seomra Spraoi

by The Oh-Aissieux - Narrative Arts Club Sun Sep 09, 2007 01:52

Another successful evening of innovative and taboo-breaking storytelling.

The programme went as follows:
Mary's travels
Caoineadh na dTri Mhuire
Point Two Twenty-Two
Skunk (OR The Dangers of Underwater Rugby)
Ripples (Seán O'Donoghue)
Ireland (Gerry)
The Woman who got Rubbed Out

The Sun and the Moon
The Woman with Two Vaginas (Gerry)
In the Land of the Dead
Nalikateq
Runs with Wolves (Gerry)

Thanks to Gerry and Sean for participating - and to all the listeners, of course!

Next time is 22 September.

by emma - i belong to emma Sun Sep 09, 2007 02:43

is there ever anytype Else, other than an Unexpected boon?.. i was just minding myself, heading home on a urban walk that wasn't the same way i arrived (very important) when i happened to glance upwards at the stairwell. it was the homemade posters that did it for me. i had been thinking: drat, i'm know i'm too late for thisisnotashop, but i still need my twilight artfix.. hm, where to? And i so ventured to the kind girl (hi grainne!) who was walking up the stairs What's Seomra Spraoi?! i pondered my luck for the quickest age when she explained, it was just what i didn't realise i'd been looking for until it was presented to me, ha.. i'd heard about Seomra when they were based down in 11 ormonde quay, but had never attended.. and here the entrance appeared before my very eyes, via personal invitation too, sweet.. and what rich new ground i found here! turns out a scot called gerry was one of the storytellers, and hadn't i seen him pensively smoking outside the boar's head. i looked at him and instantly thought how interesting he would be.. how amusing it was to find him in the room. and he was a natural gabber too! then seated beside him was a couple, who had been in the shop i came from.. AND it turned out that they are mates of gerry's! its either a small world or i am coincidence magnet.. anyway we all had a giggle about these entertaining tangents, gerry particularly.. nights like this always feel like someone is crocheting with the fabric of my destiny, and i like that. the second half of the programme was more mythological, which i really enjoyed. larger than life tales never fail to entertain. i'm on/off reading Angela Carters Book of Fairy Tales, a wondrously ripe and bawdy collection of country specific tales, i'm going to have email a few of them off to the lads, because its just the sort of stuff they'd like. what i liked about this night was the sincerity and spontaneity, it was very real, connective and homespun. just people able to enjoy the simple pleasures of others' company, and respectfully delve into others' lives.. nothing heavy, just chilling out, with strangers. but of course they won't be like that on my next visit! thanks Coilin for letting me post my blahblahs and don't forget to explain the rubbed out chick angle to me please!!!!

by The Oh-Aissieux - Narrative Arts Club Tue Sep 11, 2007 17:56 086 060 3818

Thanks to those who completed feedback forms. The following comments were received:

Respondent 1:
Ripples (Seán) - Very touching
Ireland (Gerry) - Great story
Woman with Two Vaginas - Mysterious and bawdy!
stories in second half: Collecitvely very very entertaining

Respondent 2:
Didn't really like the female characters ... too many male 'leads'!!
Ripples - Excellent
The Woman who got Rubbed Out - Bit disturbing
Runs with Wolves - Very good

Respondent 3:
Ripples (Seán) - Really liked it, the language
loved the 2nd half

I'm delighted to see that all those who cared to respond made particularly favourable comment on Seán's piece.

I see the point about "too many male leads" - or conversely a deficit of strong female lead characters. What to do about it is not necessarily simple or obvious. However ...

Gerry has previously told the story of Brigid and the Morrigawn - and very well, I thought. Also, I have some stories with strong female protagonists, e.g. Vasalisa Fetches Fire, and The Orphans who Saved their Village. I will do some more research and some thinking about stories with female characters that I could develop for performance.

Mind you, while I am prepared to tell stories with female lead characters, I am much more strongly inclined to explore male characters, particularly as they relate to the theme of war and peace - e.g. the Voyage of Mael Dun, and the Norse version of the Battle of Clontarf, as found in the Icelandic sagas. To a very great degree, every artist explores themes that resound deeply within him- or herself, and the themes of violence and death, war and peace, revenge and forgiveness are those that move me most strongly.

I think there are limits to how well I can express the experiences of woman characters. I mean, there are things about women's ways of thinking, feeling and being that I simply cannot know, just as the ways of warfaring men may be quite inscrutable to most women. One of the points of storytelling must be to convey our own experiences, and to listen closely to the experiences of others who lead very different lives.

So ultimately I think we need women to tell women's stories.

I have suggested to Clare Murphy that she come and perform for us in the Seomra Spraoi. She performed in the Narrative Arts Club in March and was very well received, so I hope she will come and perform for us some time soon.

Also, I have been talking for some weeks with another woman who wants to perform something in the club, and I think this will soon be realised.

While I think the folk arts tend to be very accessible, I do not think that everybody is capable of telling a story that will be broadly entertaining, without some kind of training and practice. Even with experience, some of the professionals I have seen are no more entertainiing or insightful than the amateurs. So I am not keen to have as many people as possible making impromptu contributions in the Narrative Arts Club's storytelling evenings. That's the job of a different kind of club, or storytelling circle, and it involves making a fundamentally different "contract" with participants, so that listeners can adjust their expectations before they turn up for the event.

However ... I am prepared to spend time with committed amateurs who are willing to do some ground work to prepare themselves and the material that interests them for live storytelling performance.

So, if there are any women out there who have a burning desire to perform alongside people like Gerry, Seán and me, and if you think I might be able to make useful suggestions as to prepare good material for performance, I'd love to hear from you.

Best,
Coilín.