{"id":1362,"date":"2013-12-06T18:08:48","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T17:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sallypommeclayton.com\/blog\/?p=1362"},"modified":"2023-06-20T15:37:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T14:37:09","slug":"festival-of-fairytales-the-bargehouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makeandbelieve.uk\/?p=1362","title":{"rendered":"How to tell a fairytale!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

I will be performing Love in the Shadows<\/strong><\/a> – dark, gothic tales about wolves, devils and girls who turn into flowers with my teeny, tiny shadow theatre at The Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, on Sunday 15 December, as part of  <\/span>‘Angels Aren’t Just for Christmas\u2026 A Festival of Fairytales for Grown-ups’<\/em><\/strong> 11th \u2013 15th Dec 2013.<\/a> This festival has already sold out, though some tickets might be available each day. BUT… I will be performing Love in the Shadows<\/strong> again at Soho Theatre on 6 January 2014 – book now<\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"'Love<\/a>
‘Love in the shadows’ Sally Pomme Clayton<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

 The festival selling out so fast is very heartening! Adults still believe they need fairytales and that there is something valuable hidden within them. Following the narrative of a fairytale through its familiar and unexpected images, formulas and repetitions, surreal detours and surprises, is profoundly enriching. Fairytales take us into a world that already exists inside us. We can meet the lost prince, raging hag, wise fool,  <\/span>jealous sibling, powerful magician. We can be helped by breadcrumbs and stones, the sun and moon, towers and gates, a talking bird, a flying horse. Listening to stories a mysterious process can take place, Aristotle wrote about it in The Poetics<\/em> and called it catharsis.<\/a> By following a fictional character enacting a narrative in another world, our own desires and disappointments can be experienced and transformed. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/span>Telling a fairytale to a large audience is hugely demanding. What has been written down or collected is just bare bones as far as a performance is concerned, it needs lifting-off the page, re-making and bringing to life. Flesh needs putting on the bones: holes in the plot need to be resolved; characters need to speak; locations described; emotions felt; meanings conjured; gestures, movement, space and voice explored … And don’t stint on those repetitions! Fairytales are full of repetitions – three brothers; three tasks; three magic objects; three fates and three golden apples! Repetitions are a chance to find humour, to play with anticipation and pace, drama, and surprise. Max Luthi a brilliant writer on the deep structure of fairytales, wrote: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The seeds of narrative dynamism are there ready in the narrative elements, but it requires talented narrators to hit upon and make use of them.”<\/em> Max Luth, The Fairytale as art form and portrait of man<\/strong> (75:1987)
Indiana University Press<\/a>.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fairytales are full of secrets. I love them, and relish the chance to try and do them justice. Hope to see you for Love in the Shadows<\/strong> at The Bargehouse or Soho Theatre!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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