Storytelling Reviews

My reviews of several storytelling venues (DVDs and a live storytelling events) are below. Before I proceed, though, I should make a semi-embarassing confession: I worked at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern (and Northern) California in high school and college. It was super fun, and I got to see many storytellers (some of whom are well known though I had no idea at the time). I took them for granted. Since starting this class I've watched a lot of video and listened to audio and realized I did not appreciate the skills they had. So, a retroactive sorry!

StoryWatchers Club: Adventures in Storytelling
Good Character, 2006
Stories: Ol’ Golly Mander, The Little Old Lady in the Vinegar Bottle, Freedom is My Home, Great Big Enormous Turnip, and Two Brothers.

This DVD series is made up of recorded storytellers (in this DVD, five of them tell stories related to the theme “Good Character”) interspersed with puppet interludes. The interest of space, I will review the three I found the best.

The first story told by Stephanie Holman was “Ol’ Golly Mander.” Holman told it in front of a live audience of children of about 8-10 years old, who seemed fairly indifferent to the telling. Holman did use a variety of voices to represent the old lady, the greedy little girl, the good little girl and various other characters like the cow, horse and peach tree. Holman did use repetitious and rhyming to weave the story together, which worked nicely with the simple story. Holman also was expressive in her body, miming the actions of the story. She included the audience in her telling of the story, including them in the emotions (i.e. “I wouldn’t like that, would you?” but not actually asking for a reaction from the audience). The story seemed a little muddled in its moral (the “good little” girl did essential steal the old woman’s money, which was made ok because the old lady had stolen it to begin with?) but otherwise accessible.

Mary Jo Huff told the story “The Little Old Lady in the Vinegar Bottle” which she told with the use of a “puppet” made up of a white glove with eyes and a tutu. Her voices her mild, not as exaggerated as Holman’s and her delivery felt somewhat rushed. The story was not always easy to understand given the speed at which Huff talked (though she did use this to her advantage, slowing down when she had something particular to underline). Huff did engage the audience to “help” her tell the story (with hand motions), though the audience did not seem particularly enthused.

Charlotte Batin told the story “Freedom is my Home” and this was my favorite, mostly because she did it in 18^th century period Quaker costume, which was a welcome change from the patchwork vests and generic hippie wear of the other storytellers. In addition to being ascetically pleasing, it helped to set the tone for the historical tale of slavery. Batin also used two quilts and a bushel basket to create a small stage for her story. Batin’s style was more subdued (given the gravity of this story about the Underground Railroad), and seemed therefore more appropriate for older children. She was emotional in her telling, seeming to be on the verge of tears in several places. Though lovely, the story was a little heavy handed in its message.

Eth-Noh-Tec
Eyes of the Wise, 2005
Stories: Heaven and Hell, The Man Who Planted Onions, Willow Tree, Blue Bird, Bird of Happiness, The Original Goldfinger, and Monkey Moon.

This DVD series is a collaborative work by Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo of seven Asian stories. The stories are filmed on a black stage, with no live audience, though they engage the audience across the fourth wall (such as asking of “you” like onions). They have a matching set up purple and red semi-Asian costumes which lends to the theatrical feeling of the production. It was a very polished but accessible production, beautifully told.

Eth-Noh-Tec’s voice and language use was amazing. They not only were specific and almost musical in their language, they harmonize with each other. They told some stories in duet (flawlessly) and against each other (each taking a part, like an old man/old woman). Despite this, they are always faced to the camera, engaging the audience rather than each other. They also sprinkle little bits of the appropriate story’s language (Korean, Chinese) into the telling, a surprisingly effective gesture. Wang engages the audience in the story of the Willow Tree, teaching a set of movements and a song that go along with the story.

Their body movements are also closer to dance than pantomime. They move together to act out the actions of the story. They also move together in little dances that while they don’t directly correspond to the action of the story, so enhance the telling. They also use music to set a mood, playing a recorder to introduce a story and along with the Willow Tree story. They did not use any props, other than the costumes (Wang changed into a Kimono to tell the Japanese story).

Portland Storytellers’ Guild: Barbara Fankhauser, Lynn Fike, and Rick Huddle
Who Gets the Last Laugh? Saturday, May 10, 2007

The Portland Storytellers’ Guild held this meeting at McMenamins Kennedy School – an elementary school converted to a pub/restaurant/hotel – which gave this event a strange school feeling. The audience was almost entirely adults across a wide range of ages and cultural groups, with the only two children (approx 8 and 10) being two boys who had come with their parents, both Guild Members. It was a very informal session.

The first storyteller was Lynn Fike, who told one very short story to kick off, about a clever king in Chile and his bride, Carmelita. Her manner and voice were energetic and animated. Though she didn’t do distinct voices for the people, her body language managed to give them distinct character. The story was short and funny, and was an excellent way to get the audience tuned in and settled down. Next she told a longer humorous story about Regina May and Wilhelmina and their foolish husbands. The story was told in a flawless and easy Southern accent. She also used distinct language to underline the story’s Southern origins – “fussin’, fightin’ and fumin’” was repeated at several high points in the story. There was some small audience interaction, one of which backfired a little – the story has an “Emperor’s New Clothes” element to it, and one audience member pointed out the clothes were invisible. Lynn took it in stride and scolded the audience member in character and carried on with the story.

Rick Huddle told the next story, and it was obvious that he was nervous. However, he rallied and told a French folktale about Jean-Baptiste and his bride, Marguerite. The story was a sweet and romantic tale, and Huddle told it with lovely body language. His voices for the characters of the merchants in the market struck me as wonderfully contemporary – they sounded just like the cholo boys I knew growing up in Southern California. Huddle did not engage the audience too much in the story, but it wasn’t the kind of story that seemed to call for feedback.

The third storyteller, Barbara Fankhauser, told a traditional Scottish tale, The Laird’s Lass and the Gobba’s Son (Gobba is a lowland Scots term for a blacksmith). I had heard this story told previously by an excellent storyteller, a fact that I think worked against Fankhauser. Her style was very casual and ad hoc, without much in the way of specific language. She also attempted (without much success) a Scots accent, which I found distracting (since, unlike Fike’s dead on Southern accent, her Scottish wavered). The story was the longest of the tales told (about 25 minutes) and was filled with extraneous details that dragged the telling on. The audience was becoming restless, and was loosing focus. Rather than respond to this by increasing the energy, Fankhauser seemed to lose her place in the story and paused several times. This did not help keep the attention of the audience. The story came to a rather abrupt ending (perhaps aided by Fankhauser’s losing focus) and felt unsatisfying.

I was glad to have had a chance to experience so much variety in the storytelling styles. The StoryWatcher’s DVDs are aimed at the small children’s market and were structured accordingly. The Eth-Noh-Tec DVD was aiming for a more sophisticated and older market. The Storytellers’ Guild was clearly aimed at adults. This gave me a great perspective on what techniques worked best with each audience. I would use repetition and specific phrasing to teach a story to smaller children, and most likely engage them in “helping” to tell the story. The Eth-Noh-Tec’s synthesis of music, choreography and language was appropriate and engaging for all audiences. The Storytellers’’ Guild relied mainly on language and verbal jokes to keep the (adult) audiences engaged, though the subject and language would be appropriate for children.