Performance Storytelling is an
emerging performance art in which voice and gesture are combined
with movement and often music, to evoke a story in the audiences
imagination. The art borrows from principles of traditional storytelling
as well as using tools from theatre and drama improvisation, through
the mixing of narration, characterisation and description."
Storysmith Storytelling offers a range of shows, some explicitly
for adults and others for a family audience.
The following are examples the available performances by storyteller
and musician Chris Smith.
Oxford is drenched in story. Dragon City
takes a journey through the myths and legends which have shaped
the growth of this remarkable city. Screaming dragons, miraculous
maidens, student loves, demonic dons…and much, much more.
The legends of Arthur form the defining myth
of the English nation: revisit Arthur’s landscape with Sir
Gawain, the bearded lady and the Green Knight as he confronts love,
death and his own mortality.
Just South of Oxford, in the Vale of the
White Horse, lies a cave called Wayland Smithy, named after the
Norse Blacksmith God. His story is one of the extraordinary Norse
epics that came to this country with the Northern invaders. A tale
of love and longing: not for the faint hearted!
Revisit the creation myths of the Greek Gods,
brought to this island by our Roman ancestors, in a roller-coaster
of sacred tragicomedy.
A white bull with golden eyes meets a maiden
picking flowers down by the sea: so begins the real story behind
the strange tale of Minos and his bull-child son!
The tale of the creation of Thebes: join
the quest of Cadmus as he serenades a monster, is led by a cow,
defeats a dragon and enlists children to build a city of perfect
peace and harmony.
A retelling of this ancient love story, drawing
on the traditions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Combines
music and story in an epic of majestic mystery. Developed for the
British Museum Sheba exhibition, London.
This story was collected in Iraq, but is
found in many countries: a prince journeys to the Tree of Life,
samples its fruit and…come and see!
The Golden Feather was collected in Palestine, but has been found all over Europe and beyond: flying stallions, golden birds and moody maidens combine as our hero seeks life's elixir.
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