Archive for the ‘Storytelling/Writing/Screenwriting Workshops’ Category
Once upon a time
The Boyhood of Releigh by Sir John Everett Millais, 1870 Tate Gallery, London
Let me tell you a story
FOR CENTURIES, storytellers have conveyed events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Some storytellers have brought magical characters to our life, organising information and building emotions up among us. Some bedtime stories have kept us awake, while others have taken us to magnificent worlds.
Storytelling has existed as long as humanity has had language. Traditionally, oral stories were committed to memory and then passed on from generation to generation. The Kalevala, for example, tells stories up to 5,000 years old. Stories of creation, the origin of fire, the birth of the song, spirits of the forest, sea and sky having adventures in an ancient world are comprised within the Finnish national epic.
Storyteller and Musician Nick Hennessey was lured by this masterpiece of Finnish literature in 1998. In 2000 he travelled to Finland and Karelia where he was lucky enough to meet old, bright eyed women who warmly shared with him all of their memories.
The agile world we live in allows storytellers to cross borders and tell their stories in faraway lands through brilliant and colourful performances. This is the case with Hennessey, who performs the Kalevala in the UK.
Hennessey will be hosting a workshop on the skills of storytelling on Sunday 3 May from 16:00 to 18:00. During the workshop, you will look at structure and style of traditional stories exploring the techniques used to tell them well. This is a unique opportunity to meet a master storyteller and learn his craft.
FinnBritPlayers
Fredrikinkatu 20A, Helsinki
Registration: Matti Keltanen: keltanen@gmail.com
Susan Fourtane – Helsinki Times
Image – Tate Gallery, London
