Tales From the Undercroft - 5th October 2011

Last Wednesdays Tales from the Undercroft was so brilliant, we decided to review it twice!  courtesy of two regulars; Liam Carroll and Kelly Kanayama:

You had to be there to get the full force of the penetrating moral insights from the troubadors that dark Wednesday night in early October. Yes it was another night of stunning truths and unbelievable facts at the Undercroft; from Joy's 'we all know wealth makes you happy' to which we all eagerly consented (in hope more than anything) only to hear how our hero sunk his own boat due to the over abundance of valuable goods (we were all shocked) to the marvelous news that animals make better lovers than spouses (from two diferent tellers, with no conspiring - it must be true) - all good clean fun (I had no idea that's how the minotaur was conceived - gosh, I didn't know which way to look)!

The story about the cook who couldn't resist the simmering ducks and got away with the theft (and Kelly made the theft seem so reasonable) brought the troupe's morals into further disrepute (or was the master getting his just desserts from the canny servant? What's right and what's wrong? - I don't know) Well we were all on much safer ethical ground with Dave's story about the thief; clearly a wrongun' there, and he certainly got his come uppance when he met the gorgeous thiefess ..who robbed him good and proper .. before they both fell in love ... oh ...and then they produced a beautiful baby who ... well maybe not quite so clear cut as I thought.

Ah, now, then there was 'the voice', now he certainly laid it nice and plain on the table ..'people who live in grass houses shouldn't  store....', ah, now I wouldn't want to spoil the ending for the next audience, other than to say that the moral was nice and clear cut (wasn't it?) Now of course the good lady of Talespinning herself cut an unequivocal moral path with her exemplary tale of what to do when Death turns up to serve up his own brand of equality and justice to young and old, good and bad alike ...and there's no escaping that truth .. only, she did (now how did she do that) oh well.

Now that was only half the tales ... the others were even more mysterious (and why did those folk turn to dust again Jim?) well, quite frankly you had to be there.

Liam Carroll

Our second gathering at Tales from the Undercroft on 5 October was a fantastic follow-up to last month. Although we had fewer tellers, we got to hear many different stories from around the world and we also saw several new faces in the audience!

Mark Scott-Ison got us started (and laughing!) with a short ‘moral tale’ about what not to do when living in grass houses. Su Squire, aka Tilly the Talespinner, told us an inspiring Hungarian folktale about an old woman who was too busy living to have time for Death.

Dave Tonge the Yarnsmith gave us a preview of his upcoming Settle Stories performance with a story of love and thievery in 17th-century Norwich. Making her first appearance at Jurnet's, Joy Croft (a regular at Tales from the Horse’s Mouth) told an Algonquin Native American folktale that warned us against careless wishes.

Jim Kavanagh rounded out the first half with the Greek myth of Daedalus and Minos, reminding us that sometimes the only thing between success and death is a single thread, and that we should never 'default on a loan from the gods'.

The second half began with an Afro-Cuban myth from Kelly Kanayama about the Orishas (manifestations of God in Yoruba religion), desire and the creative impulse. Liam Carroll followed up with the story of a mysterious casket that led its owners to ask themselves the simple but important question of who they loved the most. It was then Dave’s turn to tell us about Tudor England’s fascination with freaks and devilry, and to weave these facts into a comic tale of a crossroads meeting with the Devil.

Jim returned with a Scottish tale about two pipers and the consequences of their one-night-only gig in the realm of Faerie. Kelly provided another story, this time about a clever (and hungry) servant and some delicious roast duck.

Finally, Liam brought the evening to a close with the story of a good Norfolk lad who - through an otherworldly encounter - became a master storyteller and learned that truth is often harder to believe than fiction.

Kelly Kanayama

The next Tales from the Undercroft gathering will be on 2nd November at 8:00 PM (7.30 for 8.00 start) and this time there are not one, but two themes! The first half of the night will be devoted to super-short stories, specifically stories that are no longer than 3 minutes. The theme for the second half will be Spooky Stories: tales of ghosts, monsters or anything else that makes you think twice about turning out the lights.

Hope to see you all there!