Storytelling and Theatre Festival 2007 gets underway
19/02/07
Aberdeen’s annual Storytelling and Theatre Festival will officially get underway tomorrow (Tuesday), marking the start of weeks of fun events for children, young people, communities and families.
A major highlight in schools’ cultural diaries, the festival offers teachers and pupils the very best of storytelling and theatre, authors and artists, taking a broad view of storytelling and linking the arts and education.
The festival celebrates the powerful pull of a good story and offers opportunities for schools to join in with storytelling sessions, theatre performances and multi-arts activities including dance, animation workshops and concerts.
The festival also meets the Council's commitment to encouraging access to and participation in the City's arts and heritage life.
More than 10,000 people are expected to attend hundreds of different events and a diverse range of theatre companies, storytellers and authors will be in Aberdeen’s libraries and schools.
More unusual venues include the Reading Bus, Seaton Park, Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Drum Castle, the David Welch Winter Gardens, Old Aberdeen, His Majesty's Theatre, the Tolbooth, Aberdeen Art Gallery and the Lemon Tree.
Children from Craighill, St Joseph's and Donbank schools as well as the language unit at Sunnybank School, will be at the Lemon Tree tomorrow to enjoy performances of The Man Who Planted Trees, a captivating puppetry adaptation of Jean Giono’s environmental cult classic, presented by Puppet State Theatre Company.
Now in its ninth year and still the largest festival of its kind in Scotland, the Aberdeen Storytelling and Theatre Festival 2007 has once again been organised by Aberdeen City Council's Arts Education Team.
Extending over seven weeks from now until the end of March, the festival aims to celebrate all that is magical and entrancing and everything that is challenging and enthralling, while celebrating cultural diversity and encouraging families to spend time together at Family Saturdays, which will be held at the Lemon Tree from 12noon to 4pm.
Annette Murray, Aberdeen City Council’s Arts Education Co-ordinator, said: “We are delighted that we are able to present such a diverse programme again this year, offering high quality cultural opportunities which are free to city schools. As always, the broadest view of storytelling is taken and participants are invited to explore theatre interactively, to engage in stories through dance, film, music, visual arts and animation."
Among the special workshops on offer is From Russia To Narnia, with Adagio Dance and Margot Henderson.
Children can take a journey with a dancer and a storyteller from Russia to Narnia, looking at the origins of classical dance in historic Russia then being transported to the mythical world of Narnia.
citymoves dancespace is running workshops for pre-school children, based on adventures and illustrations from Natalie Russell’s ‘Hamish the Highland Cow’, through dance, music and song in a purpose built environment in Aberdeen’s Central Children’s Library.
South East Asian Shadow Puppetry will offer a unique opportunity to create stories and see them come to life through shadow puppetry, inspired by the University of Aberdeen’s collections in the Marischal Museum.
Sounds Of Progress' Boomwhacker music workshops are aimed at children with special needs. Using Boomwhacker musical tubes and percussive drumsticks, the children use colour and sound to develop their rhythmic skills and learn composing techniques in the writing and telling of stories.
Throughout the festival, The Belmont cinema will be working with some Aberdeen schools, including St Joseph’s and Kingswells, running storytelling workshops using film as part of the storytelling process. This will culminate in a screening at The Belmont of films produced by City school children.
Over at Aberdeen Art Gallery, children will be courting Drama And Disaster! Focusing on ‘Flood in the Highlands’ by Sir Edwin Landseer and other narrative paintings, children will investigate how an artist has used images to tell a story, and translate this into creating a visual story of their own.
The festival will also celebrate World Book Day on Thursday, March 1, with special events at Aberdeen's Central Children's Library.
And once again Aberdeen Storytelling and Theatre Festival and Word - University of Aberdeen Writers Festival – are sponsoring the annual short story competition for secondary school pupils.
Last year's publication of 13 short stories from pupils ‘The Last Thing I Expected’ was well received across Scotland, while the second book of stories on the theme of ‘Home’ will be published and launched at Word 2007.
This year's contest explores the theme of ‘Oor Wey o’ Spikin’, with pupils invited to submit stories in a range of dialects including Doric.
The winning entries will be published as part of a collection of short stories that will be launched as part of the 2008 Word Festival.
Copies of the full-colour brochure, detailing every performance, with times and venues, have been sent to schools and nurseries across Aberdeen. They are also available at venues such as libraries, community centres, Aberdeen Art Gallery and museums, The Point at St Nicholas House and the Lemon Tree or online at http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/acci/web/files/events/storytelling.pdf
For further information and booking please contact Heather Evans, Festival Administrator, Arts Education Team, Aberdeen City Council, Summerhill Centre, Stronsay Drive, Aberdeen, AB15 6JA or email: hevans@aberdeencity.gov.uk or call 01224 346361 or 01224 346287.
