WHAT WAS

Lucy Lill

LUCY LILL
"The Flaming Queen"
FRIDAY 31 JANUARY  2020
£7 admission

To kick off  2020, we welcome London StoryJam's very own Lucy Lill to the Shaggy Dog with a tale that promises to take us on a journey from poverty to power via the hot sweat of the underworld. It poses the question "What would you do for everything you ever wanted?" 

sftfTykes ont loose

ROD DIMBLEBY &  EDDIE LAWLER
"Two Tykes on't' Loose (again)"
FRIDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2019
£7 admission

For an evening celebrating Yorkshireness with song and story join
ROD DIMBLEBY, local author and storyteller, specialist in Yorkshire dialect stories and EDDIE LAWLER, the "Bard of Saltaire" whose songs celebrate Yorkshire but also gently take the mickey!

sftf

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 25 October 2019
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!

Nick Hennessey

NICK HENNESSEY
"Silver Jubilee Special"
FRIDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2019
£7 admission

To mark the club’s 25th anniversary, we’re delighted to host a return visit by one of
Shaggy Dog’s earliest young talents, Nick Hennessey, who seems to have turned out all right; and who will reprise his set, if anyone can remember what that was. Regardless we’re assured an unforgettable evening in the hands of a master storyteller, with contributions from founder members, and even a special screening of a short documentary about the club in the early days of its feckless youth.
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Stories from the Floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 30 August 2019
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!.

Matthew Bellwood

MATTHEW BELLWOOD
"Goblins,Godsons and Godesses"
FRIDAY 26 JULY 2019
£7 admission

Storyteller Matthew Bellwood brings new life to a brace of ancient folktales, featuring warring goblins,death's godson and a pair of lovers who turn into swans. Funny, bizarre and sometimes poignant, these are tales to chill the blood and warm the heart.
Matthew Bellwood is a Leeds based writer and storyteller. His background is in theatre and he has performed at drama festivals in Canada, Germany and New Zealand as well as throughout the UK. He currently runs Moveable Feast Productions, a touring theatre in education company, for whom he has written a wide range of shows and workshops for young people. He also works regularly with A Quiet Word, who create site-specific theatre work in unusual places

www.365leedsStories.org.uk

stories from the floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 28 JUNE 2019
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!.

Liz Weir

LIZ WEIR & CIARAN MULHOLLAND
"Tales and Tunes From  the Antrim Hills"
FRIDAY 31 MAY 2019
£7 admission

An evening of storytelling, song and music with Liz Weir and Ciaran Mulholland. They performed the 2014 Festival at the Edge commission, "All for a Dead Man's Penny  and often work together sharing traditional tales, story songs and music. Liz is an old friens of the Shaggy Dog Club and Ciaran will set feet a-tapping with his skilful fiddle playing.

Debs Newbold

DEBS NEWBOLD
"Romeo & Juliet"
FRIDAY 26 APRIL 2019
£7 admission

Debs Newbold, Principal Storyteller for Shakespeare’s Globe, catapults her audience into the torrid streets of Verona in this poignant, emotional and often uproarious re-imagining of Shakespeare's tale of starcrossed lovers. Originally commissioned by the Globe theatre, this remarkable reworking will immerse you in both Shakespeare's incomparable verse and the poetic, irreverent storytelling that is uniquely Debs' own. A multiple sell-out at Sidmouth Festival and the Hay Literary Festival and toured worldwide, this intimate retelling will get deep under your skin.

STF

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 29 MARCH 2019
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!.

Ben Haggarty

BEN HAGGARTY
"Atalanta"
FRIDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2019
£7 admission

"Atalanta", a Greek myth, retold by Ben Haggarty

A girl raised by a bear.  A fathers desperate pursuit for procreation in the name of immortality. And the most terrifying race with the most terrifying prize......
Audaciously reshuffling epic Greek mythology, Ben Haggarty brings to the stage a fierce tale of a remarkable hunter and devotee of Artemis who sure as hell doesn't want anything to do with men. 
The veneer of classical civilisation is stripped away and the the truly awesome implications of the tales are made, sometimes unbearably, clear. Spend a moonlit night in the company of  wild women, cocksure warriors and gods unleashed.
Adult (14+) Duration 70minutes

"brutal, unsettling and blood brilliant" -
TIME OUT

"a tour de-force of storytelling" -
REMOTE GOAT

"a fresh dose of magic that youneed in your life" -
EVERYTHING THEATRE

Ursula

URSULA HOLDEN GILL
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
FRIDAY 2018 25 JANUARY 2019
£7 admission

With her own, characterful version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream Ursula takes up the plays poignant themes of arranged marriage, rebellion, awakening and acceptance and presents them in an insightful and thoroughly uplifting retelling of the Shakespeare classic, in plain English (apart from a peppering of verse) and with bags of mischief, music & jaw dropping background into the significance of all the old midsummer mayhem. 

The piece was originally commissioned by the national ‘Celebrating Shakespeare Festival’  in 2016 as one of the Bard’s 400th anniversary events. However, it was received so rapturously that Ursula decided to develop it further into a one woman show. A Midsummer Night’s Dream debuted at Settle Storytelling Festival on Sunday 8th April in 2018 and was described by more than one audience member as ‘the best story I’ve ever heard told.’ Since then it has toured to story clubs, schools & festivals throughout the U.K. and abroad.  

Aside from her regular appearances at community events throughout Calderdale, this is Ursula's first local performance of her work for almost two years and she is very excited to be finally bringing 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' home (albeit in the middle of Winter!!?!).

Stories from the Floor

CHRISTMAS PARTY
FRIDAY 21 DECEMBER 2018
Free admission

 
An opportunity to share food, drinks, good company and, of course, stories. Join us in the upstairs room at the Stubbing for a meal beforehand if you can. We hope to be  eating by 7.00 pm so you might like to pre-order your food on line. This will be followed by a seasonal ‘Stories from the Floor’ session, starting at about 8.00pm.

Stories from the Floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR
FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2018
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!.

Ana Lines performing Frida

ANA LINES
"FRIDA, the lives and loves of Frida Kahlo"
FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER 2018
£7 admission

ANA LINES, Brazilian journalist turned globetrotting storyteller performs "FRIDA". Exploring  the life of Frida Kahlo, the talented  artist, feminist and fighter against her own disability and her interest in the  Night of the Dead and other folklore.

Stories from the Floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2018
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!

Nell Phoenix

NELL PHOENIX
"Allsorts"
8pm FRIDAY 31 AUGUST 2018
£7 admission

Nell Phoenix is a London based professional storyteller with a global reputation for telling tales that  excite and arouse the imagination. Her stories are traditional, re-told to amaze, provoke wonder and awe and to make you laugh.

She gave us  a choice of  3 themed sets but we couldn't decide so Nell is giving us an assortment of tales with no particular theme.

Nell travels to all parts the UK and far off plac

Stories from the Floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 27 JULY 2018
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!

Stories from the Floor

DOUGIE MACKAY
"Witches, Wee Folk, Watery Beasties"
FRIDAY 29 JUNE 2018
£7 admission

Dougie Mackay shares a ceilidh of tales from the wilds of northern Scotland and beyond.  Journey through a beautiful, mysterious landscape, drinking peaty waters from lochs rumored to heal.  Dance at the base of hillsides still lilting with echoes of fairy music, and keep a keen eye as darkness falls and "he who should not be named" wanders in disguise, offering mortal happiness in exchange for souls.

Stories from the Floor

HUGH LUPTON
"The  Hanging of a Mouse"
FRIDAY 25 MAY 2018
£7 admission

An evening of tales from Medieval Wales.

A small monastic outpost in 13th Century Wales is rocked to its core when a gruesome discovery is made on the nearby shoreline: a severed human head. It’s the first of several to wash up along the surrounding coast, and not long afterwards, the holy brothers stumble across the ruins of a bardic school with a pile of decapitated bodies inside. Only one survivor, barely alive, is found hiding nearby. 

He is Cian Brydydd Mawr, the greatest bard of his age, who holds in his head the four ‘branches’ of an ancient, epic myth cycle: The Mabinogion. Physically weak but strong willed, he asks the monks to put aside their rigid Christian doctrine and commit his tales (which they see as pagan relics) to parchment. It takes the intervention of a king to persuade them. And as the old poet tells his tales of spirits and shape-shifters, spells and curses, passion and vengeance, no-one in his audience will ever be the same again.

In tonight’s performance ‘The Hanging of a Mouse’ Hugh will be telling some of these stories from the Mabinogion and talking about the moment in history when these extraordinary, magical tales moved from the oral tradition to the written page.

Stories from the Floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 27 APRIL 2018
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!

Guto Dafis

GUTO DAFIS
"A Devil and a Pancake"
FRIDAY 30 MARCH 2018
£7 admission

JACKIE KENT WHO SOLD HIS SOUL TO THE DEVIL and THE PANCAKE BOY WHO GOT THE PALACE BUT DIDN'T BOTHER WITH THE PRINCESS

Two tales of Tricksters who break the rules and get away with it; one from the borders of England and Wales, the other from Brittany. Told in words, music , dance and song.

GUTO DAFIS tells stories, sings and plays the melodeon,, all with energy and wry humour.

Mich SchellekensStories from the Floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR
"Tales at Valentines"
FRIDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2018
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!

As we are in February, the month of  the Valentine card, a chance to celebrate  love and romance  (or not) with a tale from the tip of your very own tongue.

Mich Schellekens

MICH SCHELLEKENS
"Tales from the Blender"
FRIDAY 26 JANUARY 2018
£7 admission

Belgian storyteller Mich cooks up stories or brings original takes on tradtional tales, served fresh and wrapped around a core of unexpected twists. His stories take you on a humorous journey of  epic misunderstanding, tragic betrayal, impossible romance and sublime theft. 

Tales from the Blender strings together a  series of new stories and old stories with different interpretations and twists. The stories are  interwoven via personal accounts as a scientist -  including the audiences favourite ; "the infinity mirror".

Mich Schellekens website

Christmas Party
CHRISTMAS PARTY

FRIDAY 22 DECEMBER 2017
£7 admission

It's NOT the last Friday of the month but , Hey, it's Christmas!

Join us for an informal evening of stories and festive cheer!

Jaqueline Harris

JAQUELINE HARRIS & MARJAN WOUDA
"The Headless Woman and other Delights"
FRIDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2017
£7 admission

A storyteller leaves Lancashire to spend 3 years on the Isle of Arran. This is what she found there.

Through storytelling performance, peep boxes and improvised storytelling, the audience are drawn into a story circle where ancient tales of boggarts and mermaids hold hands with contemporary accounts of supernatural landscapes against a backdrop of Scottish Island life.

The event is a collaboration between storyteller Jaqueline Harris and sculptor Marjan Wouda.

Stories from the Floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR
"Untitled"
FREIDAY 27 OCTOBER 2017
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!

Tristan Langlois

TRISTAN LANGLOIS
"Silence & the Wizard's Laugh"
FRIDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2017
£7 admission

In a time after Arthur, when dragons roamed  and wizards hid, when men were women and women were men - a  mysterious storyteller weaves dreams and weathers nightmares to survive. Tristan Langlois recounts the oddly modern medieval  Roman de Silence, a 700 year old exploration of gender, identity, fantasy and farce.

Tristan ran the award-winning heitage theatre company Past Pleasures for many years, during which time he told tales in (and was occasionally slung out of) most of the great castles and manor houses of England. He continues to work for museums and galleries as a storyteller whether they want him to or not. He specialises in the epic, the obscure, the scurrilous and the obscene, delivered with relish and what he hopes is engaging charm.

Rod & Eddie

ROD DIMBLEBY & EDDIE LAWLER
"Two Tykes on t'Loose"
FRIDAY 25 AUGUST 2017
£7 admission

For an evening celebrating Yorkshireness song and story, (mainly humorous) join Rod Dimbleby, local author and storyteller, specialist in Yorkshire dialect stories and Eddie Lawler, locally known as the "Bard of Saltaire."

Fred Versonnen

FRED VERSONNEN
"Stories of my Grandfather"
FRIDAY 21 JULY 2017
£7 admission

Fred is a storyteller from Flanders in Belgium who loves stories to listen to and to tell.  At present he is teaching in a Circus School and a highschool for teachers trainers. For several years he was a clinic clown for children's hospitals.  Besides performing on stage Fred has a lively and colourful background as a street performer entertaining audiences as a jester, stilt walker, fire crasher, clown, juggler, and storyteller.

He performed several times at Alden Beisen the famous international storytelling festival in Belgium. But the last three years Fred was also active in the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Denmark and he even did a few stories (rather to his own surprise) in Derry in 2013.

Since 2013 Fred is also organising international storytelling evenings with Fonkelvogel.

A powerful and thoughtful storyteller, he has a special preference for the popular stories of his grandfathers, dark and jolly medieval histories, and understandably stories that evoke the atmosphere of fairs and carry the essence of an old time circus.

 

Pete & Gorg Chand

PETE & GORG CHAND
"SNAKESkin"
FRIDAY 30 JUNE 2017
£7 admission

"...when the door was locked, the finely dressed royals shed their human forms and feasted from the bowls of sweetened warm milk. When their bellies were full, they transformed from snakes back to men again and the festivities continued..."

A collection of dark, powerful and thoughtful snake stories shared from Indian myth and folktale. Brought to you by Peter and Gorg Chand, who both have a deep connection and love for stories from their motherland.

Starting with the myth of the serpent god who gave mankind voice, and winding through the realms of magic, sensuality and serpent lore from various parts of the sub-continent. SNAKESkin is a unique and vibrant piece of storytelling, brought to life by two highly skilled and engaging storytellers. (suitable for children)

www.chandstory.com

Alex Ultradish

ALEX ULTRADISH
"Two Birds"
FRIDAY 26 MAY 2017
£7 admission

During Alex's maternity non leave, she visited the park. A lot. Not very remarkable you may think but wait til you hear what she learned on her visits. Stories from all over the world. Short ones, long ones, happy ones, others not so.

Telling of tales new or old will be given the standard Ultradish treatment, mixing tradtional with contemporary. Join her on a journey from your seat to the skies via the local pond. If you have a babel fish, bring that too.

Disclaimer: There will not be any nappy talk or photos of the child you must coo over.

"The most convincing storyteller I've heard"
Festival at the Edge steward

"I was lost in her story, they couldn't get my attention when my bacon sandwich arrived for my snack."
Pupil at Friars School, Wellingborough

3 Troubadours

3 TROUBADOURS
"Mobile Dreams"
FRIDAY 28 APRIL2017
£7 admission

'3Troubadours'is formed by three storytellers from different European countries. Torgrim Mellum Stene (Norway), Tom Van Outryve (Belgium) and Markus Luukkonen  (Finland)

'Mobile dreams' is a poetic, funny and warm storytelling performance about the everlasting human search for truth, freedom and beauty in a playful stream of four languages (English, Norwegian, Finnish and Dutch).

Everything is understandable for an English-speaking audience.

 

Dave Tonge

DAVE TONGE
"Dame Fortune's Wheel"
FRIDAY 31 MARCH 2017
£7 admission

Dave Tonge is new to Shaggy Dog but not new to the storytelling scene. "The Yarnspinner of Norwich" is a historian, author and a wonderful teller of tales.

Dame Fortune's Wheel & The Three Estates is an exploration of the three 'classes' of men and women from long ago. Those who worked, those who prayed and those who fought. The performance vividly illustrates the ups and downs of people’s lives as they rode upon Fortune’s Wheel. The stories also celebrate the use of the mystical number three, a motif commonly found in many traditional tales. The performance promises a compelling mix of humorous and revealing tales, interwoven with crafty and relevant riddles. Tale telling that brings the long past into the here and now.

 

Liz Weir

LIZ WEIR
"Love & Legends"
FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2017
£7 admission

Liz is Ireland’s greatest ambassador, taking as she does her vast store of stories around the world. She shares dreams and delights from her homeland that will make you smile and make you frown, but never ever get you down. A evening with Liz is guaranteed to brighten your life!

Liz Weir is a storyteller and writer from Northern Ireland, who has told her stories to children and adults on five continents. As a children’s librarian for the city of Belfast in the 1970s, she learned about the healing power of storytelling. Liz tells stories in small storytelling clubs and at major international festivals, such as the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee and the Australian National Storytelling Festival. She has performed in Israel, at universities in Germany and Wales, on TV between Australia and Canada, in the mighty Vanderbilt Hall of New York’s Grand Central Station, and in quiet hospital rooms.

Keith Donnelly

KEITH DONNELLY
"Witches, Wizards & Wings"
FRIDAY 27 January 2017
£7 admission

THE FUNNIEST THING TO HAPPEN TO STORYTELLING SINCE THE CHICKEN CROSSED THE ROAD!

Best known for his hilarious anecdotes and true stories (as Jasper Carrot observed "Keith could make sheep laugh!), not to mention writing jokes for some of the funniest people on the planet, Keith now presents his first full story set.

"WITCHES, WITCHES & WINGS"

Everyone knows there are only 7 stories in the world..........so here are 7 more!

7 tales of magic and wonder that you won't have heard before. Interspersed with more than a few of Keith's trademark hilarious jokes and observations (not to mention a song or three), often accompanied by his wonderful guitar work, these short tales will delight audiences old and new.

Christmas

Christmas Party!

WEDNESDAY 21 December 2016
£7 admission

NOT storytelling as usual anyway but there will a party in December. That means stories from the floor and wine and mince pies included in the price of admission

Winter tales

TOM McCONVILLE & TONY WILSON
"Winter Tales"
FRIDAY 25 November 2016

£7 admission

With over 80 years' of combined, award winning storytelling, musical, festival and theatrical experience, storyteller Tony Wilson and violinist Tom McConville present a collection of Winter stories from around the world. With a wealth of wit, charm and an easy humour they have been amazing and amusing family audiences throughout the World with their ability to woo any gathering with their outstanding presentation.                             

A JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF WINTER STORIES, MUSIC & SONG FROM TWO OF THE NORTHEAST’S FINEST SONS

 

Stories from the floor

Stories from the Floor
"Fright Night"
FRIDAY 28 October 2016

£7 admission

This month at the Shaggy Dog we're hosting a Stories from the Floor Halloween Special 
where anyone burning to tell a ten minute tale, share a ballad, a song or even a poem or two will be welcome to do so. During the first half of the evening tellers can spin out their yarns following whatever thread they fancy (so if you've got a story you've been saving since April, this month would be a good time to share it with everyone) but from 9pm onwards the theme will most definitely be FRIGHT NIGHT....Join our resident tellers with stories of murder, mystery and mayhem. 8pm upstairs in The Stubbing Wharf, King St. See you there if you dare!

Ursula Holden Gill

URSULA HOLDEN GILL
"Romance & Ragamuffins!"
FRIDAY 30 September 2016

£7 admission

Romance and Ragamuffins is a one woman tour de force, celebrating the bizarre, the off centre and the wallflower alike through storytelling, comedy, music, dance and song. Featuring Ursula’s latest real life masterpiece Ladies Who Live Together this is love against all odds (where the odds are truly bonkers)!

When Ursula Holden Gill steps on to the stage your first impression is of a Victorian urchin with a somewhat impish twinkle in her eyes.  However, you very swiftly realise that she is in fact a one woman whirlwind able to inhabit any number of characters at the drop of a usually invisible hat! The show itself is very insightful and gives much to think about and is performed in an incredibly high octane style by a lady of great charm.”

(Reviewer for Settle Storytelling Festival, April 2016)

 

Tom and George

TOM HUGHES & GEORGE MURPHY
"It's a TWO-FER!"
FRIDAY 26 August 2016

£7 admission

Shaggy Dog Storytellers present a TWO-FER...that's a two for the price of one event!!!

Our featured tellers for the night are:

TOM HUGHES performs "THE PIPER'S TALE". The bagpiper strolls through the folk tales of Europe, sometimes the wise fool, other times a trickster, or prisoner of the underworld.  

Tom’s stories invite you into the piper’s world.  The collected tales of many years are shared, along with tunes on various bagpipes to awaken the legends.

GEORGE MURPHY performs " HIPPY VALLEY"

A selection of monologues and songs. This ebook collection has been compiled by Pennine Pens - connected to Heb Web.
Rather than adapting existing tales, George has invented his own characters and mini dramas, inspired by the recent history of Hebden Bridge and the surrounding towns and villages of Upper Calder. Along the way he has been learning the performance skills of an almost defunct but warmly remembered art form. He returns to his home venue for a celebration of life round here.

 

Usifu Jalloh

USIFU JALLOH
The Cowfoot Prince
FRIDAY 29 July 2016

£7 admission

Shaggy Dog Storytellers return home to Stubbing Wharf! A celebratory occasion as this famous club returns to the Wharf and present a dynamic performer of African tales. Usifu Jalloh provides a unique combination of story, drum music, song, dance and interaction.

The tales uplift with the message of using your talents to fulfil your dreams. Please be seated before the 8pm start. £7 on the door. Why not book a meal in advance in the revamped pub?

Usifu Jalloh is an award winning performer, who has been honoured in Sierra Leone for his unique contribution to culture and for helping to revive the art of storytelling in Africa.

 

Giles Abbott

GILES ABBOTT
Patched & Mended
FRIDAY 24 June 2016

£7 admission

Life is a patchwork, we make do and mend. So how do you survice the bad stuff?

GILES ABBOTT, the Uk's only blind professional storyteller weaves the tale of Pryderi and Manawydan from the Mabinogion together with the true story of how he lost his sight, aged 25 and living in Todmorden, and what he did in response.

A moving and uplifting story!

 

Stories from the floor

STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 27 May 2016

£7 admission

Listen to stories from the very talented bunch of tellers from the Calder Valley. This is another opportunity for you to tell the story that you have been dying to tell for ages. If you just want to listen, that is also fine.

Cat Weatherill

CAT WEATHERILL
"The Golden Oak"
FRIDAY 29 April 2016

£7 admission

People love trees! The Woodland Trust alone has over 500,000 members. Thousands more enjoy woodland walks without joining anything. A walk is one of life's greatest free pleasures.

The Golden Oak will enhance that pleasure. The show is a celebratory feast of facts, folklore, curious superstitions, stories, poems and songs, all on the theme of British trees. It is presented with a slideshow of tree photos from the photographer and Westonbirt forester Phil Hinton.

Cat is one of the UK’s leading performance storytellers. She has told stories at some of the most prestigious venues and festivals in the land, including the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, the South Bank Centre, The Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Edinburgh Book Festival and The Hay Festival (eleven times!) She also works internationally. She will be performing at the Sydney Writers Festival in May.

www.catweatherill.co.uk

Emily Hennessey

EMILY HENNESSEY
"Kali"
FRIDAY 25 March 2016

£7 admission

Kali. The story of Hindu mythology's wildest godess.

From demure housewife to bloodthirsty godess, gurgling infant to elephant man, meditating sage to cosmic fire-eater, Hindu mythology illuminates a mind-blowing world of radical transformations.

Kali is one of the wildest shape-shifters of all. DEmon-slayer, Life-saver, Supreme-mother, Destruction-dancer, this godess is truly Awesome.

When an evil power spreads its clawed hands across the world, Kali's time has come....

Join storyteller, Emily Hennessey, for a white knuckled tuc-tuc ride through sun kissed palaces, fiend infested forests and every cacophonous saffron-scented marketplace inbetween.

Christine McMahon

CHRISTINE McMAHON
"Still On Tenterhooks"
FRIDAY 26 February 2016

£7 admission

Christine tells tales close to home, even when she is far away. For this commissioned set we have asked her to reflect on her performing career. Here she tells traditional tales - often containing a hefty dollop of humour - going full circle to return to The Red Shoes, the first tale she told at our club. Still on Tenterhooks references suspense and tales drawn from the cotton and weaving towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Christine has performed at Cape Clear International Storytelling Festival, Crosscurrents Festival in Australia, Glistening Waters Festival in New Zealand, Dublin Yarn-spinners and headed the bill at The Festival at the Edge. She has been a storyteller for major theatre and opera companies.
She writes, "On Tenterhooks was a set of stories based on me searching for stories to connect me to my past."

Debs Newbold

DEBS NEWBOLD
"Tales from the Bawdy Bardess"
FRIDAY 29 January 2016

£7 admission

Debs Newbold knows the meaning of the word 'bawdy' as well as any woman with 5 aunts, a wily grandmother and a Chaucer fixation possibly can.  In this show you will hear three frolicksome tales from merrie Olde Europe all told with a glorious dollop of Debs' masterful ribaldry; one English, one French, one Italian, all roll-off-your-chair funny.

Chaucer, Boccaccio and the anonymous writer of a fruity French Fabliau get a womanly reworking in this skilful and rollicking piece of 'stand-up storytelling' that had a packed house at FaTE 2015 clutching their sides and reaching for their Canterbury Tales. 

Suitable for age 14+

The best storyteller in all the kingdoms...an incredible and rare talent.”

- Becky Burchell, Arts Programmer, Bestival.

She is luminous on-stage” 

- Nell Phoenix, Storynight at Torriano, London.

Amazing - the female Les Dawson!

- Towersey Festival

Pete Chand

PETER CHAND
"Dark Tales from India"
FRIDAY 30 October 2015

£7 admission

From shape-shifters to cunning seducers and sadistic mother in laws to sensual spirits; British Indian Storyteller Peter Chand has brought together a collection of truly dark and disturbing stories from India, several told here for the first time!

Peter Chand is one of Europe's most renowned storytellers and specialises in stories from the Indian subcontinent - the land of his parents.

 

Andy Harrop-Smith

ANDY HARROP-SMITH
"The Waterloo Smile"
FRIDAY 25 September 2015

£7 admission

Andy Harrop-Smith is sort of proud to present his latest offering from the barbecue of storytelling (charred around the edges, raw in the middle)

The Waterloo Smile

A soldier’s journey from Waterloo to the Final Frontier, in story, song and poetry. Includes a brief history of tooth extraction, some political incorrectness, and the possibility of mild nausea.

OR

HOW I SAVED URSULA HOLDEN GILL’S LIFE WITHOUT HER KNOWLEDGE.

 

Clive Hopwood

CLIVE HOPWOOD
"All of my Stories are True"
FRIDAY 28 August 2015

£7 admission

Clive Hopwood performs, "All my stories are true, (but some are truer than others).

Clive Hopwood returns to Stubbing Wharf, with a sparkling and varied collection of gem like tales.

Amongst his many pioneering projects, Clive developed the brilliant Storybook Dad/Mum project by supporting imprisoned parents in prisons across the country.

He was the subject of the Radio 4 documentary, 'The Goodnight Tales' and winner of the Lord Longford Prize in 2004 and the British Awards for Storytelling Excellence Community Project 2012

 

Feargal Lynn

FEARGAL LYNN
"Songs & Stories from the Glens"
FRIDAY 31 July 2015

£7 admission

This month, we welcome the warm and wonderful Irish storyteller Feargal Lynn.

Through his tales, spoken and sung, he keeps alive the stories of those that have gone. Feargal grew up under the feet of the characters visiting his parents' shop and was transfixed by their tales from the glens and the stories they told about each other in a time when no one was in a hurry. Intertwines stories with his own songs and songs rarely heard.

 

Sarah Rundle

SARAH RUNDLE
"The Forest of Chance Encounters"
FRIDAY 26 June 2015
£7 admission

The Forest of Chance Encounters is one long tale melded together from four stories in Italo Calvino’s collection of Italian Folktales: - four boys go into a wood, but not all of them come out again.

Stories from the Floor

STORIES from the FLOOR

FRIDAY 29 May 2015

£7 admission

Listen to stories from the very talented bunch of tellers from the Calder Valley. This is another opportunity for you to tell the story that you have been dying to tell for ages. If you just want to listen, that is also fine.

RUTH KIRKPATRICK
"Maidens, Mayhem & Murder"
FRIDAY 24 April 2015

£7 admission

Born in the North East of Scotland, Ruth is an experienced and inspiring storyteller. Ruth contributes to programmes at Strathclyde University, Emerson College and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. She has presented at conferences,taught and performed  at festivals all over, including India, Iceland and recently Singapore.

She has a broad repertoire of stories and songs from Traditional and Traveller sources and a knack of knowing which of these gems she should ‘pull out of the bag.’
Her strength is in forming a warm rapport with her audience, respecting the tradition but giving her performance a personal, feisty sparkle.

Dominic Kelly

DOMINIC KELLY
"The Hero Light"
FRIDAY 27 March 2015

£7 admission

*EARLY START at 7:30pm*

A brand new performance of Irish epic, brimming with exuberant humour and vitality. The story of Briccriu's Feast - filled with heroes, kings and battles for power - romps wildly through the battle strewn landscape of ancient Ireland. But beyond the light of the feast, with its surreal chaos and ale-soaked wit, awaits the gritty widescreen action of Irish mythology’s great epic – the Cattle Raid of Cooley. Balancing comedy, tragedy, and raw beauty, Dominic Kelly brings all of this and more to full bloodied life through sharp storytelling, vivid imagery and humour.

 

Xanthe Gresham

XANTHE GRESHAM
"Baba Yaga & Other Stories"
FRIDAY 27 February 2015

£7 admission

Xanthe Gresham summons goddesses and heroes to take centre stage, not from some long forgotten past, but emanating from here and now, you and me. She unfolds each tale like the petals of a lotus.  At the end, you leave with something beautiful created in your own mind. British Theatre Review

One is Baba Yaga - once a goddess of fire and fertility, now just a witch in Russian folkology. With her iron teeth and cannibalistic tendencies, she scuttles through the forest in a hut balanced on a pair of hairy chicken legs.

Katy Cawkwell

KATY CAWKWELL
"The Falcon Bride"
FRIDAY 30 January 2015

£7 admission

Beautiful, fierce and deadly, Hallgerd is not a woman to be taken lightly, ripping through husbands like a falcon through its prey. But has she met her match in Gunnar, a true Viking hero?

Katy tells episodes from the great Icelandic Saga of Njal, bringing before you the passionate queen who curses the lover half her age when he leaves her and the initially poignant, finally devastating stories that unfold.

Darkly comic, tragically romantic by turns, this tale will have you gripped and offers a fascinating glimpse into pagan society in the land of fire and ice.

 

WHAT IS

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STORIES FROM THE FLOOR

FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020
£7 admission

This month our storytellers will be drawn from members of the audience. Anyone wishing to tell a tale (up to about 10 minutes long) is most welcome to do so. Equally, anyone who just wants to listen is also welcome!.



WHAT WILL BE

Dougie Mackay

DOUGIE MACKAY
"Untitled as Yet"
FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020
£7 admission

Dougie is at the forefront of a new generation of Scottish storytellers,drawing upon the rich wellspring of tradition, and enlivening gnarled
northern folk tales for a discerning modern audience. Described as “enigmatic with a raw sense of humour”, “creating moments
of magic” and “an excellent storyteller”, expect tales of witchcraft, faeries, selkies and more, set in wild rugged landscapes where the threshold between natural and supernatural is far from clear.
Receiving plaudits both in U.K and Europe, recent highlights include “sell out” shows at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018 and 19, Festival at the Edge performance in 2017 and a standing ovation for his duet with Jan Blake at
the Scottish International Storytelling Festival in 2019.

FUTURE EVENTS:
April: STORIES FROM THE FLOOR
May: TIM RALPHS
June: STORIES FROM THE FLOOR
JULY:  ALASTAR DANIEL
all of the above are subject to change.

"Tell me a fact and I'll learn. Tell me a truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever."

 

The Shaggy Dog Storytellers provide storytellers for any performance or workshop.

Contact Richard at postmaster@shaggydogstorytellers.com