Truth and Fiction

 “Why not try to read the  actual world as if it were a work of fiction?”

Umberto Eco ‘Six Walks in the Fictional Woods’

Last month I saw Canadian storyteller,  Dan Yashinsky, perform ‘Talking you in’ at The Barbican. The performance is based on Dan’s  experiences in intensive care with his new born son. Dan did not want his son’s first words to be ‘beep beep beep,’ so he filled the ward with stories and songs.  Stories to encourage his son to live, talking him  in … like air-traffic control to a distant plane.  It was a beautiful, moving performance, linking us to the ancestors, asking, where do we come from…

It’s difficult to turn a personal story into a performance, it can seem indulgent, annoying, or not relevant.  But Dan got the balance just right. He did not get in the way of the story. His tone was delicate and light.  And the story went beyond the personal, to something universal, that everyone could connect with.

After the performance we chatted about how personal stories need to go through a process of fictionalisation in order to work in performance. We wondered how far truth can be fictionalised? And agreed that a story needs to be truthful, even if it is not all true.

Dan’s story ends joyfully, when he brings his son home. Now he is using the performance in hospitals to encourage new ways of communicating with patients.  The Crick Crack Club hosted Dan at The Barbican  –  join their mailing list for future events.