The Bleddfa Annual Storytelling Week
Start 5pm (registration 3pm) finishes after lunch on 14th
A week long course with evening performances run by Hazel Bradley and Michael Harvey, with guest lecturers Fiona Collins and Nick Hennessey.
Each year at Bleddfa a group forms to immerse itself in the ancient art of storytelling. Daily warm ups and varied workshops look at specific aspects of story preparation and delivery followed by story sharing in the group and at evening performances open to the public. Individual tutorials are available and an extensive collection of books of stories and related subjects will be provided. Participants can camp in the orchard or stay locally, share a meal at the Hundred House Inn and enjoy tales around the bonfire.
Cost:ÿ £250 Camping in the orchard £15. Food not provided.
Venue: The Hall Barn / The Orchard
The Bleddfa Trust gratefully acknowledges generous support from the Welsh Academi.
AN APPRECIATION
Storytelling participant Eleanor AlliTt writes:
'This annual course, tried and tested over 14 years once again delivered a lasting inspiration. Over the years Hazel and Michael have been sensitive to the needs of aspiring storytellers and have supplied these with a lighthearted enthusiasm.
The days start with warm up sessions which include plenty of movement, always exhilarating in the beautifully restored medieval barn. Guest storytellers come and share their treasures, both in terms of story and technique, everyone participates, and each person is valued for their particular contribution.
After lunch there is time to prepare stories, walk, rest, and then at tea time each day there is an opportunity to come together informally in a circle to tell stories. After supper every night there is a storytelling performance either by Michael and Hazel, or guest professionals, or by participants on the course. The old candlelit barn makes a captivating setting.
This year Fiona Collins came and inspired everyone with stories from the Mabinogion, a source close to her home in North Wales. These age-old stories deal with themes which concern us today just as they did in times past. They tell of love, death, trust, betrayal, free will and control. They are set within a world teeming with magic, yet precise and recognizable.
As the week goes by a spell gradually begins to weave its way into ones heart and take root. There is time for these age-old themes to become revitalized. It is very likely that you might find yourself earnestly considering what it is like to be turned into a tree, or, perhaps puzzling about the vindictive and sly nature of fairies. There again you might find yourself journeying into the unknown, to the party in the sky, or perhaps you might be folding up a portion of the starlit sky and locking it away carefully in a chest lest your beloved should find it and return to her home in the heavens. All these images and more are brought alive and an inner landscape begins to glimpse the light of day.
It is rare indeed to find such an honouring of these traditional themes, and indeed one comes away enriched in a way that nourishes on a deep level.'
