2015
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Story Friday
The 1980s
Stories from Story Friday: The 1980s
Stories from The 1980s, first performed at Story Fridays The 1980s, 9th January 2015, Burdall’s Yard, Bath
To kick off 2015 we went back to the 80s. The 1980s was a hugely successful Story Friday. Despite wind and rain and wild weather, the audience turned out in record numbers – standing room only! We had nearly 100 people in the Cavern to hear the stories. We had stories from Emma London, Mark Rutterford, Thomas David Parker, Julie Hayman, Diane Simmons, Clare Reddaway and Stephanie Weston, stories that took in clubbing, hunting, fighting, strolling, singing, crying, loving, living and dying.
We linked up with a weekend of 1980s themed films which the Bath Film Festival/Kilter Theatre curated at the Salisbury Club, so audiences could go on to watch Back To The Future, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and ET.
We were pleased to welcome Bath-based duo Tracey and Jason to play at Story Fridays. Tracey’s ethereal vocals and Jason’s acoustic guitar merged to provide compelling listening. Click here to listen to their music.
We were very lucky to have Janine Dube visiting from OneVybe magazine. You can read her article and watch videos of our participants here.
One of our writer-performers, Thomas David Parker, blogged about his first encounter with Story Friday. You can read all about it here.
We have recordings of most of our stories below. Unfortunately, Diane Simmons’, Office Politics and Julie Hayman’s Game On slipped through the net. You can watch/listen to them on OneVybe:
The Stories:
1. My Sixth Birthday, written and performed by Thomas David Parker
2. The Accident, written and read by Stephanie Weston
3. ManBoyManBoy…Boy written and read by Mark Rutterford
4. The Long Black Coat written and read by Clare Reddaway
5. Cheap Hairspray, written and read by Emma London
Story Friday
Quilt of Stories
Stories from Story Friday: Quilt of Stories
Stories from Quilt of Stories, first performed at Story Fridays, 13th March 2015, Burdall’s Yard, Bath
For our March Story Fridays did something special – and it needs a bit of an explanation.
In 2012, my beloved mother, Su Elliott, died aged 82. When my sister and I were clearing out my parents’ house we found a suitcase. In it was my mother’s patchwork quilt. I remember her making this quilt for the whole of my life. It was made out of dresses from the 1950s, curtains from the 1960s, blouses and skirts from the 1970s and 1980s – clothes that my mother sewed in the days when everyone made their own clothes, clothes that I remember her wearing. And indeed, that I wore: there are hexagons of my pyjamas when I was four, the first sundress I made as a teenager, the dress I wore to my brother’s speech day when I was seven. My mother never finished the quilt, but the suitcase was full of carefully cut out blocks, ready and waiting to be sewn.
I am not a seamstress, and left to me the quilt would still be in the suitcase. However, this seemed a shame, so I got in touch with Emily Langdon (those of you who know Story Fridays will recognise the name – Emily is Olly Langdon of Kilter Theatre’s sister). Emily is a stunningly talented crafter-maker. She took my mother’s quilt and she finished it, creating a glorious object that is beautiful to behold. (You can see more of Emily’s work here.)
We all looked at the quilt, and wondered if there was a way to celebrate it. And then we thought – we could make it into a Story Friday. We had stories from Elaine Miles, Julie Green, Christine Roberts, Adrian Paul, Julie Hayman, Martin Phillips and Clare Reddaway. You can listen the stories the quilt inspired below.
Here are some fab tweets from our audience at Quilt:
‘Really really lovely evening of storytelling at Burdall’s Yard. Will be back!’
‘Great performances and skilful writing. Bravo! Inspiring’
‘Fantastic, earthy, funny, moving stories’
The Stories:
1. My Mother’s Quilt, written and read by Clare Reddaway. A piece about the quilt that inspired the evening, and the memories it evokes.
2. Evelyn In The Afternoon, written and read by Adrian Paul. Listen to Adrian tell the story of an old lady’s sampler.
3. Elaine’s charming and poignant story, One of the Family, is read (due to Elaine’s illness) by Clare Reddaway.
4. We are transported to Maryland and the American Civil war in Martin Philips’ story Antietam Shroud, read by Caroline Garland.
5. Julie Hayman’s poignant story Little Birds introduces us to an old lady and her beloved quilt. It is read by Oliver Langdon.
6. Christine Roberts takes us to Chile and remembers Pinochet’s regime in her punchy story Pinochet’s Patchwork.
7. Finally, the audience cackled with laughter at Julie Green’s Crafty Foxy Ladies in What Goes Up.
We’d like to thank John Breese and Charlotte Carrivick for their playing at our event, and to Burdall’s Yard, as ever.
We were again very proud to team up with Bath Libraries for this event. The quilt was displayed at the Library in February and March – see pictures below. Emily, who finished the quilt, is running a parallel project called Quilt of Memories through her company WeFabricate. She is looking for memories to make a paper quilt. For more information click here.
For those of you who know about these things, I believe the quilt pattern to be ‘Grandmother’s Flower Garden’.
Here are some pictures:
Story Friday
Harvest
Stories from Story Friday: Harvest
In keeping with the month of September, we set the theme Harvest to kick off our first autumnal Story Friday. We were thrilled by our lineup of wonderful writers! We heard from Elaine Miles, Doc Watson, Rose Senior, Clare Reddaway, Martin Philips, Christine Roberts and Anne Corlett.
We had comedy and some darkness, we went to south sea islands and Welsh farms, allotments and oceans. Not all of our harvests were quite what you’d expect!
We were pleased to welcome back the fantastic jazz-pop duo Tracey and Jason.
Click on the player below to hear the stories.
The Stories:
1. A Late Flowering, written and read by Elaine Miles
2. A Bumper Harvest, written and read by Christine Roberts
3. Reaping What’s Sown, written by Rose Senior, read by Olly Langdon
4. The King of the Cornfield, written and read by Martin Phillips
5. By the Light of the Harvest Moon, written and read by Doc Watson
6. Sand, written and read by Clare Reddaway
Story Friday
Cabaret
Stories from Story Friday: Cabaret
Stories from Cabaret, first performed at Story Friday Cabaret, 13th November 2015, Burdall’s Yard Bath
In November, Story Fridays once again teamed up with Bath Libraries to run a B&NES-wide short story competition. We chose the theme Cabaret. The two winning stories written by newcomers to Story Fridays were read at the event. After the stories, we had a screening of the 1972 musical Cabaret.
Here’s June Wentland from B&NES Libraries presenting certificates and prizes to the writers.
We had stories from our winning writers, Ruth Eversley and Hannah Persaud. We also had stories from regulars Stephanie Weston, Adrian Paul and Julie Green, and also from newcomer Lucy Langdon. The stories were funny (even hilarious at times), sad, moving, poignant and true. Julie Green wins a large and flamboyant Story Friday Glory Hat for the best title: ‘From Molar Extractions in Sarajevo to the Bridges of Iraq’.
You can listen to all of the stories below.
The Stories:
1. Clarity of Purpose, written and read by Stephanie Weston:
2. Memorial Candles, written and read by Ruth Eversley:
3. Old Chum, written and read by Lucy Langdon:
4. Les Danseurs Sur Glace, written by Hannah Persaud, read by Kirsty Cox:
5. After the Party, written and read by Adrian Paul:
6. From Molar Extractions in Sarajevo to the Bridges of Iraq, written and read by Julie Green: