Sunday, November 1, 2009

Teller's Tea October 2009


For the October Tellers' Tea of the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW), my tow good friends Jo Henwood and Mary French sent shivers through the entire audience at the lovely Hughenden Hotel with their tales of 'Shades and Shadows.' Both Mary and Jo have a huge talent for telling literary tales and I love getting swept away in their language and expression.
Jo kept us spellbound with her rendition of 'The signalman' by Charles Dickens and 'The shadow' by H.C. Andersen. I am always in awe of Jo's pacing and voice modulation and the Dickens' tale had the hairs on the back of my neck raised.
Mary's style is a very gentle one, deceptively so, and you quite often don't realise the sinister nature of the tale she is weaving until you are totally ensnared in the web. Her last scheduled story was in turns creepy and funny, but left the listener with much to ponder.
Our Guild President Christine Carlton asked if I'd like to share a story in the Open Mic section, and I told the Nigerian tale of 'The severed head.' This is a huge hit with upper primary grades and secondary kids. It's a short story, but packs a punch at the end, although I wasn't entirely happy with the way I delivered it this day. I don't think I spent enough time building suspense, and the ending wasn't quite as effective as it's been in the past as a result.
Christine then very cheekily asked both Mary and Jo to pull out a story from their personal 'teller's bag', to share with the audience, totally unrehearsed. Of course, being the consumate professionals that they are, both stories were fantastic.
I always come away from these Tellers' Teas totally inspired and entertained.

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