2017
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Story Friday
Ice
Stories from Story Friday: Ice
Stories from Ice, first performed at Story Friday Ice, 13th January 2017, Burdall’s Yard, Bath.
For our first Story Friday of 2017, we teamed up with B&NES Libraries again in our annual B&NES-wide story competition. We chose the theme of ICE, which was particularly appropriate as the country was in the grip of a deep freeze on 13th January. We had a fantastic spread of stories to choose from as the theme obviously inspired our writers – often in quite a dark way. We had stories of Civil War battlefields and Siberian fishing grounds, of whalers in fjords, hedgehogs in swimming pools and coffins sporting stilettos. We heard from Story Friday regulars Elaine Miles, Christine Roberts, Rosalind Minett and Martin Phillips, and welcomed newcomers Jenny Woodhouse and Chloe Turner. We were also really pleased to welcome to our stage B&NES competition winners Charlotte Wormald and Susan Shah. Kirsty Cox and Olly Langdon read some of the stories, bringing them beautifully to life.
We were thrilled to hear from musician Gill Simmons who brought her keyboard and ukulele to delight our audience in the bar – we really hope she’ll come again.
We had one unusual submission, which spans three continents. Mr Fred Pourtaheri was visiting his daughter from Canada in November, and came along to Story Friday War. He was so taken with the evening that he returned home and wrote a story about his childhood in Tehran, Iran. Unfortunately, he missed the deadline, but we were so pleased that he’d been that inspired that we printed out the story for our audience. If you’d like to read The Game click here.
Here are the stories recorded at Story Friday Ice. You can listen to them here, or download them:
The Stories:
1. A Noble Cause, written and read by B&NES competition winner Charlotte Wormald
2. Ice, written and read by Susan Shah. Susan received the 2nd prize in the B&NES short story competition
3. A Fragment Retained, written by Rosalind Minett, read by Kirsty Cox. This story is also available in Rosalind Minett’s book ‘Me Time Tales, Tea Breaks for Mature Women and Curious Men‘
4. Scrimshaw, written and read by Christine Roberts,with Olly Langdon
5. Ice Fishing, written by Jenny Woodhouse, read by Olly Langdon
6. Blood and Ice, written and read by Martin Phillips
7. The Last Hurrah, written and read by Elaine Miles
Story Friday
Anniversary
Stories from Story Friday: Ice
Stories from Anniversary, first performed at Story Friday Anniversary, 10th March 2017, Burdall’s Yard, Bath.
To celebrate 5 years of Story Fridays and 10 years of Kilter Theatre, we gave Story Friday an anniversary theme. We had some smashing stories submitted – although we were surprised by how many had a murderous bent: ‘anniversaries’ as a theme obviously moved our writers over to the dark side! We enjoyed listening to Mark Rutterford on his kazoo, to Emma London – I won’t spoil the surprise – and to Anne Corlett, who won the prize for longest title ever with ‘This Is A Great Story. So Great! We Have The Best Stories. Everyone Knows It. Wow!’. Clare Reddaway took us to a very extravagant party, Kirsty Cox read Susan Shah’s trip back in time, and Stephen Tuffin, a newcomer to Story Friday, delighted us with his maniacal pie. And we were particularly thrilled that Gill Simmons of Brave Bold Drama wrote and sang an anniversary song that she’d specially written for the evening. Katie Stone Lonergan played her violin, accompanied by Emma, in the bar which set everyone up for a fantastic, memorable evening.
So, click below to listen to what we had on offer. Firstly, to find out how Story Friday came about and to remember some of our finest hours, Olly gives a summary:
The Stories:
1. Summary, Olly Landon
And then for our first ever song!
2. 365, written, played and sung by Gill Simmons
3. What’s The Recipe Today, Jim? written and read by Stephen Tuffin
4. Wonderland, written, and read with a kazoo accompaniment, by Mark Rutterford
5. 30 Years, written and read by Emma London
6. Anniversary, written by Susan Shah and read by Kirsty Cox
7. This Is A Great Story. So Great! We Have The Best Stories. Everyone Knows It. Wow! Written and read by Anne Corlett
8. The Clown, written and read by Clare Reddaway
Story Friday
Journeys
Stories from Story Friday: Journeys
Stories from Journeys, first performed at Story Friday Journeys, 28th April 2017, Burdall’s Yard, Bath.
We had a packed out Story Friday for Journeys in April. The audience were gripped by a record number of stories. We had a couple of hilarious pieces from Story Friday regulars Stephanie Weston and Philip Douch, an original and funny tale from Rosalind Minett as she made us wonder about Life Before Chairs and a moving story which was inspired by her life, from newcomer Alissar Amali.
We were proud to collaborate with Engage, at the Theatre Royal Bath, for this Story Friday, and we welcomed writers and actors from the Engage programme to read stories for us – none of whom had written or performed for Story Fridays before. So Liz Hume read Debbie Beale’s trip to the seaside; Charlotte Turner-McMullen read Sarah Curwen’s story set in a medieval German village; Russell Hancock read John Reynolds’ musings on time as he bathed in the warm sun of Granada and Christopher Ryan treated us to hansom cabs and handbags in Andrew Campbell’s story All Change. We look forward to seeing more of all of them!
We loved having Gill Simmons back playing for us in the bar. Gill Simmons runs local drama company Brave Bold Drama. We also gave the audience a taster for their journeys experience with an extract from Sara Firman’s Blue Vikram in the programme.
So if you’d like to have a listen to what went on at Story Friday Journeys, you can click on the stories below, or download them. Enjoy!
The Stories:
1. Journeys To The Coast, written by Debbie Beale, read by Liz Hume
2. Come Follow Me, written by Sarah Curwen, read by Charlotte Turner-McMullen
3. Granada Time, written by John Reynolds, read by Russell Hancock
4. Road Trip, written and read by Stephanie Weston
5. Not The Same Anymore, written by Alissar Alami, read by Caroline Garland
6. Life Before Chairs, written by Rosalind Minett, read by Olly Langdon
7. All Change, written by Andrew Campbell, read by Christopher Ryan
8. Journeys, written and read by Philip Douch
Story Friday
South
Stories from Story Friday: South
Stories from South, first performed at Story Friday South, 30th June 2017, Burdall’s Yard, Bath.
All points south! We had a veritable smorgasbord of delights at Story Friday South from writers Mark Rutterford, Mark Hynes, Adrian Paul, Clare Reddaway, Julie Hayman, Sally Gander, Elaine Miles and Steve Tuffin. We had some thoughtful and thought provoking stories – and a bellyful of laughs!
We were delighted that pop-jazz duo Tracey and Jason came along to Story Friday South and played their beautiful music for us again. They’ve got a new album out – click here for more info. What a treat!
If you couldn’t make it to Story Friday South – or if you enjoyed it all so much you want to listen again, click on the audio recordings below, or download them to a device of your choice. Do leave a comment if you’d like to tell us what you think.
Have fun!
The Stories:
1. We plummet and soar with Mark in Skydiving, written and read by Mark Rutterford
2. Sally tells us a true story in The Tatooed Lemon, written and read by Sally Gander
3. We visit a grim ritual in 18th century London with Into The Darkness, written and read by Mark Hynes
4. Elaine’s story had the audience in stitches. Here’s A Spot of Mischief, written and read by Elaine Miles
5. And Stephen’s story also had the audience guffawing. The Glorious And Much Celebrated Death of William, Henry Muggs, written and read by Stephen Tuffin
6. Adrian creates a chilly dystopia in Migratory Impulse, written and read by Adrian Paul
7. We’re also in the cold in Julie’s quirky story of a man and his fridge, in Frigidaire, written by Julie Hayman, read by Jasper Holmes
8. Clare tells a dark story of the playground in Southpaw, written and read by Clare Reddaway
Story Friday
The Speed of Light
Stories from Story Friday: The Speed of Light
Stories from Speed of Light, first performed at Story Friday Speed of Light, 22nd September 2017, Burdall’s Yard, Bath
Fast, fast, faster, fastest! Those stars we see which died millions of years ago, the shutter speed on a camera that captures a car’s headlights as it travels through the darkness, the blink of an eye, the flash of a thought – we had a glimpse of infinity at this Story Friday.
We had some wonderful tales this time – members of the audience commented on the wide variety of themes. Well, our writers are very very imaginative… We had a domestic story with a twist from Adrian Paul, a trippy memory of the ’70s from Christine Roberts, an interpretation of a true story from Clare Reddaway, a vision of the future from Cherry Potts, a relationship story with a truly memorable image from Mark Rutterford, a thoughtful story about a meteoriticist from Rosalind Minett, and a story which provoked some real belly laughs from Debbie Beale.
Thank you to all of our talented writers and to Kirsty Cox and Olly Langdon, who read some of the stories completely beautifully.
Our audience had a great time. Have a listen, see what you think!
The Stories:
1. The Big Bang, written and read by Adrian Paul
2. Tripping The Light, written and read by Christine Roberts
3. Talking in Circles, written and read by Mark Rutterford
4. Rising Dawn, written by Cherry Potts, read by Kirsty Cox
5. Speed of Light, written by Debbie Beale, read by Olly Langdon
6. The Find, written by Rosalind Minett, read by Kirsty Cox
7. Riding a Ray of Light, written and read by Clare Reddaway
Story Friday
Haunting
Stories from Story Friday: Haunting
Stories from Haunting, first performed at Story Friday Haunting, 24th November 2017, Burdall’s Yard, Bath.
We’d never done ghosts before so we were very excited to present a series of really scary haunting and haunted story of ghosts and phantoms, and some seriously frightening characters. Who I hope were fictional.
We were thrilled to welcome writers Elaine Miles, Stephanie Weston, Natalie Watson, Doc Watson, Clare Reddaway and newcomers to Story Fridays, Sarah Curwen and Jason Jackson. They told stories of drumming neighbours and haunting tunes, of cherry blossoms and Valentine’s Day cakes, of texting dead friends, of actors who go bump in the night and of Victorian gothic horrors in a coalmine-owning family mansion. The audience shivered and gasped, and a thoroughly good time was had by all!
Due to a technical error, we do not have the recordings from the evening to share with you. Many apologies. However, we have re-recorded some of the stories, which you can listen to below. Also, we have a couple of EXTRA stories, which we really enjoyed but couldn’t fit into the evening. I hope you enjoy them!
The Stories:
1. The Bone-Handled Bread Knife, written by Henry Heffer, read by Oliver Langdon
2. Insanitary, written and read by Stephen Tuffin (a quick warning, this story is graphic and contains strong language)
3. The Ghosts of Camperdown, written and read by Sarah Curwen