Woodcraft Camp

I had an interesting invitation to tell some stories at a Woodcraft Folk Camp up at Embercombe. The Camp was run by the 16-21 year old in very organised way with a cycle powered mobile phone charger, shower and outdoor cinema!! The atmosphere was very relaxed. A lot of my recent work has been with very young children so the chance to work with an older group was a bit of a challenge! Great audience though and lovely cycle ride home under a midnight full moon. The way in which language and delivery changes with the audience is intriguing. With this audience the story telling shifted through different modes moving from within the tale to commentary on the tale (and audience!) and back. Read more about stretching stories for different audiences here.

Wow! Woodcraft Folk Stories!

I had the pleasure and privilage of working with a group of Woodcraft Folk Venturers this evening. They were a group of bright and aware individuals who had expressed an interest in storytelling. We explored some introductions to telling and I wondered whether we would produce some telling of complete stories. What appeared was so much better than I had imagined. There was Sleeping Beauty told by the misunderstood Wicked Fairy, the Gingerbread House Witch remembering her death in the oven, a wolf war veteran dragging himself between the little pig's houses and Goldilocks told by a forest wolf, a cottage door, some hot porridge, a bed and a chair! The groups used a whole range of presentation techniques and developed their tales within a 5 minute deadline. It was a joy to facilitate and set me thinking about what a group of young storytellers could develop and the skills they wwould need along the way. Campfire stories, podcast stories, stories to take a visiting! There is a lot that could happen. I wonder if it will? Set me thinking about what different aspects of storytelling could be covered in such a project. Back later on that!