Throughout the world and down through the ages people have told stories to each other. We see the image of people gathered around an open fire their faces turned towards the ancient teller. In modern Britain it would seem to be something from the past. In this fast world of media sound bite and virtual reality where is there time to sit and listen to a tale - and where are the tellers?
There are many places in the world where it is still part of everyday life and the stories and the tellers are well respected. But in a land where the written word is all important and the moving screen can feed us stories throughout our waking day, the spoken story has become neglected and fallen into decay.
You may be surprised to discover therefore, that not only is storytelling alive and well in this country but it is actually flourishing. Live storytelling is beginning to appear at an ever increasing number of events not only in this country but throughout Europe and America. Ten years ago there may have been a dozen people who would have been paid in some way for telling stories. Now there are over 300 in the UK alone and this number is growing all the time.
Three years ago in Birmingham, The Society for Storytelling held a well attended inaugural meeting. This organisation has gone on to develop from strength to strength. Also in Birmingham on the first Wednesday of every month, a storytelling club, with the appropriate name of Brummagem Blarney, meets at the Lamplighter Tavern in Barford Street. There you can listen to stories - or tell one if you've a mind to. There's another one in Nottingham and one in Leicester. There's one high up on Wenlock Edge and a growing network of such clubs spreading right across the country.
Whilst storytelling is also beginning to grow again in schools the biggest innovation has been in the development of adult storytelling. At Sheffield University's Centre for English Culture and Language, Simon Haywood is preparing a PhD on it's growth and development in this country. He states: "Many adults in this country are looking at stories and storytelling in a way that would have been almost unthinkable 30 years ago which is hugely exciting." He goes on to say: "Informal storytelling - gossip, jokes and anecdotes for example or storytelling and reading to children - never died out and probably never will. But now people are telling many more different kinds of story, quite formally, to other adults as a hobby or for a living."
As part of this growing recognition of the oral literature of storytelling the Birmingham Reader's and Writer's Festival will feature several storytelling events. On Saturday May 9 they have taken the unusual step of hiring the canal cruiser "Anson" to be the moving venue for STORIES AFLOAT. These will be very exciting performances for me on canals that I have known and loved for many years.
The afternoon cruise will last about an hour and a half and be suitable for all members of the family. In the evening I will be joined by concertina player Pam Bishop for an evening of stories and music, with the added advantage of there being a bar on board. It promises to be a very lively evening.
Literature festivals throughout the country are more often including storytellers as part of their programming. Presenting the oral literature not only of this country but from around the world.
With such an awakening of interest in storytelling it is not surprising that storytellers have festivals of their own. One of the largest of these is held in the beautiful surroundings of Wenlock Edge."Tales on the Edge" is a weekend event that takes place every July. Day tickets are available but with easy camping on the attractive site of the festival it makes a memorable weekend for everyone. This year there will be more than a dozen festivals around the country dedicated to the ancient art of storytelling.
There are two storytelling magazines now available to serve this ever growing interest. The Society for Storytelling's own quarterly publication "Storylines" and "Facts and Fiction" published at Wenlock Edge. To explain the reasons for the burgeoning of storytelling in this part of the West Midlands Richard Walker, a storyteller himself and the editor of Facts and Fiction, says: "It was simply the getting together of like minds. A couple of storytellers and an enthusiastic youngster were enough. We allowed things to flow, we didn't push. One thing sparked off another. There were people around here who were interested in listening and contributing and I guess that Shropshire had more than its fair share of good legends for us to use."
It is not only in the world of adult performance that storytelling has seen such energetic growth. The demands of schools inspectors and the National Curriculum had pushed storytelling out of many classrooms. It is now being increasingly recognised however that storytelling goes far beyond a few pleasant moments with the children. Stories are one of the ways in which children make sense of their lives. They can rehearse their fears and doubts of life and celebrate the victories over seemingly impossible odds. Listening to and retelling stories aids their language development and self esteem.
Storytelling is being used in therapy and issues-based education.In Hull I have been taking part in the TALKING SENSS project. This has been using storytelling in schools as an approach to anti-bullying. In March I worked with children in Northern Ireland teaching them to tell stories together. This project called TELLING TALES TOGETHER is helping overcome the barriers. Telling stories with each other is a great way of starting a dialogue.
Whilst there are some literary stories that do work well by being told it is the oral narratives of folk tale and legend that always work well. These stories were created orally and then honed and developed as they were passed from teller to teller, crossing national and language boundaries with surprising ease. Even though these days they most often have to be taken from written versions they spring easily into the mind of the teller and lodge there ready to be brought out and told whenever the occasion should demand. The images of such stories fall together in such a way as to aid retelling.
It is this quality of re-telling the story afresh each time without the use of a text that makes it so compelling. How can we resist a story well told? Research has shown that narrative speech is the way that adults most commonly address each other. This may rarely include the myths and legends of our vast oral literature but it will include other short snappy stories, jokes and modern myths - those tales of remarkable and often embarrassing incidents that happened to a friend of a friend.
Somehow or other we are all still involved in that storytelling web that can carry the story of the phantom hitch hiker to every corner of the world through 1000 different versions in 100 different languages. We will hear it and feel compelled to pass it on. Today's modern storytellers are generating a reawakening of the spoken story. From pub to club, country park to narrow boat. It is being used for theatre, therapy education and entertainment for young and old alike.
It seems that the Rip Van Winkle of storytelling has been asleep for long enough and is now awake and ready to tell a tale or two.
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