Ben Haggarty, The Crick Crack Club

Fairytales capture the zeitgeist, perhaps it's the gothic allure of dark shadows, broken promises and unspoken secrets...

The Unicorn in association with the Crick Crack Club presents two workshops by the godfather of the British storytelling revival. World renowned for his dynamic, challenging performances, Ben has a repertoire of well over 350 folktales, fairytales, epics and myths. With more than 30 years experience of working with traditional narratives at every level of society, his understanding of orality, metaphor, magic and the dramaturgy of performance storytelling is unsurpassed.

This 2-day practical course is for those who already have some experience of telling traditional tales in performance. The workshop will look at the shaping and construction of stories using Indo-European wonder tales (fairy tales) as a starting point. It will explore, in particular, the function of language as a practical improvisational tool for bringing rhythm and pace to sustained narratives.