Forging Fantastical presents:
FOLKTALES & MUSIC IN THE PARK
A one-day celebration of performance storytelling & music!
Saturday 17th of August 2024
2.15pm – 9.45pm in The Old Town Bowl, Old Town Gardens, Swindon
Find a perfect gentle escape on a summer’s day, where you’ll be transported into imaginary worlds… an enchanting programme of stories awaits you. Performances are well-crafted for grown-ups, but children age 7+ may enjoy them with adult supervision*.
TAM LIN RETOLD – CORINNE HARRIGAN
SOLD OUT
Forging Fantastical presents: TAM LIN RETOLD by Corinne Harrigan and Nick Hart. In association with Swindon Festival of Literature.
Wednesday 8th May 2024 7pm. Upstairs at The Kings, 20 Wood St, Swindon.
Inspired by the well-known English/Scots border ballad of Tam Lin, storyteller Corinne Harragin leads us deep into the Greenwood, accompanied by the haunting folk music of singer and instrumentalist Nick Hart. Enchanting and sharp in equal measure, these tales of temptation, pluck and changing shapes will take you under the green hill and bring you back out again. A young woman defies her father and enters the Greenwood. For the price of a plucked rose, she falls in love with a man… who is not quite what he seems. This man’s soul belongs to another – a formidable fairy queen who will do all she can to drag him down into her underworld.
‘Contemporary in all the right ways whilst respecting centuries of folklore’.
Opening set from Russ Williams. In his forthcoming book ‘Where the Folk’, Russ visits locations all over Wales that are associated with Welsh folklore. Along the way, he meets local experts and delves into the origins of the tales that have had the biggest impact on Welsh culture. Russ will share some tales from the book along with insights about the contexts from which they evolved.
Forging Fantastical is a Swindon based non-profit arts organisation led by volunteers, bringing talented Storytellers to the town from across the UK.
@forgingfantastical Instagram/Facebook
24/02/2024 Storytelling Supper SOLD OUT
- Storytelling Supper
Join us for an evening of stories, food and cheer!
We’ll be welcoming storytellers Stephen Hobbs and Mark Steinhardt to Swindon, they’ll be telling two big stories and we’ll be feasting on some warming home-cooked food between their performances. Ticket includes storytelling show with 1 course of food. There will be a bar with a range of refreshments and sweet treats available to purchase.
Christ Church Community Centre, Cricklade St, Old Town, Swindon (Main hall)
24th February 2024. Doors open 6pm. Tickets will not be available on the door.
Meal choices: Beef chilli with rice or a Lentil, Chickpea and Vegetable Stew. See allergen information [here].Stephen Hobbs
Thesiad – a retelling of the Theseus myth
Sing to me Muse, of Theseus King of the Athenians. A man of two fathers who must find his own path to a troubled destiny. A Superhero with Greek Expectations? Journey with him across the wine-dark sea where there is a shameful secret in the House of Minos: King Minos to you. A story of men and women, and gods and goats. A retelling for adults – centaurs not admitted. Warning: this tale includes excessive drinking, smoking, people being beastly to one another, inter-species liaisons, outrageous anachronisms, and moments of tenderness.Stephen discovered storytelling in retirement after hearing “Aunt Misery” told by Red Phoenix (Dr Terrie Howey-Moore) in a Stony Stratford pub. So he joined her storytelling workshops (aka Dr Howey’s Academy for Wondrous & Efficacious Storytelling) for a year and stayed for three years. Now he is telling stories in pubs.
Mark Steinhardt
The One That Got Away
Listen, listen, while I tell you my story, my story of a storyteller telling the story of a story he told at the beginning of the telling of stories. What was the first story? Mark Steinhardt wasn’t there, but he’s pretty sure he knows what it was. Like all the best stories, it grows in the telling….Mark has been telling stories semi-professionally for fifteen years. He has told in Ely and Peterborough cathedral, he has told to 10 and 200, for WI’s and literary festivals. He can tell a quick yarn, but he’s happiest expanding a tale, developing the characters, so that you care about their fate.
Folktales, Fire & Stone – Thursday 21st December 2023 SOLD OUT
Fantastical Tales Saturday 7th October 2023
SOLD OUT
Many thanks to our storytellers Anthony Nanson, Helen Wright and Jessica Perkins. We also thank Pete Wilson (Roker Media) for the brilliant photos. What a great night and another sell-out arts event in Swindon!
Fantastical Tales Saturday 7th October 2023
Tickets are available here: Storytelling Evening: The Cobra, the Flood, and the Pathway of Love at Eastcott Community Centre event tickets from TicketSource
Ales & Tales Wednesday 12th April 2023
Huge thanks to Roker Media for taking photos at this event.
Ales & Tales Swindon
Fantastical Tales 4th February 2023
Fantastical Tales
(ALL TICKETS SOLD)
Eastcott Community Centre, Swindon, SN1 3LZ
Sat 4th February 2023
An evening to switch off from the ordinary and immerse yourself in folktales, drawing upon myth, legend and folklore. Inspired by lands near, lands far and lands imagined, bringing positivity, mystery, and joy to a winter’s eve. Performed by the extremely talented John Row and Fiona Eadie.
Tickets £8
John Row
John has been a globetrotting storyteller for more than 40 years in all sorts of settings including prisons (he was the first storyteller in residence in a British prison). In recent years his time has been spread between Swindon, Transylvania (where he has a house he uses as a writing retreat), Morocco (where he is organising a storytelling festival in the souks of Marrakech) and Texas. He has told stories from Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei in the east to Lapland in the north, Shajah in the middle east, Texas, North Africa and across Europe.
Fiona Eadie
Fiona is passionate about language and about bringing the spoken word to life. Telling stories that entertain, illuminate, engage and inspire – Fiona studied at the International School of Storytelling in Sussex and enjoys telling stories in libraries, museums, arts centres, businesses, schools, at weddings and out-of-doors.
Doors open at 7pm and the show will begin at 7.30pm and will be finishing between 9.15pm/9.30pm. There will be a brief interval part way through.
Non-alcoholic beverages such as tea and hot chocolate will be available for £2. Any profits will go to the local charity Swindon Hardship Fund which helps local people struggling to afford things for which many of us take for granted.
Storytellers will prepare tales for ages 14+