The Red Alachigh at the Oxford Storytelling Festival
24 – 27 August 2018 (Bank Holiday weekend)
We have a rich, varied, exciting and inspiring programme of story, song, poetry, workshops, ceremony, music, dance and quiet space at this new festival. Tickets are available here and cover the whole event, parking and camping. The tent is open to women, men and young people. There are age restrictions on performances and two events on Sunday are women only, otherwise the tent is open to all.
Visit: www.oxfordstorytellingfestival.co.uk
Some final details will be added shortly.
| Friday 24 August | ||||||
| 6.00pm |  | Blessing the Tent (Ceremony) | Maggi Squire, Lisa Schneidau & Sue Charman | Join us to open sacred space in the tent and honour the land. Read more | Red Alachigh council members Lisa & Sue with Maggi on gong Website | 14+ |
| 8.30pm |  | Cailleach at the Edge of the World (Story) | Tracy Chipman | The Outer Hebrides speaks wild wisdom and the old ways… Read more | Tracy Chipman stepped onto the storytelling path over 20 years ago under an Oregon hazel tree and has never looked back. Website | 12+ 50 mins |
| 9.30pm |  | Earth Dreaming (Workshop) | Jackie Singer | Guided visualisation to dream a better world into being Read more | Jackie is a storyteller, musician and shamanic practitioner from Oxford. Website. | 10+ (Bring a torch) |
| Saturday 25 August | ||||||
| 9.00am |  | GONG: early morning sound meditation | Maggi Squire | Meditate with sounds of Gongs and singing bowls. Read more | Maggi is a visual artist, myth and mask-dancer, gong practitioner and performer. Website | 14+ |
| 10.00am |  | Myth in the land of our bodies (Workshop) | Lindsay Mcleod | An opportunity to experience ways of listening to our bodies as they respond to the stories they’re hearing and to glean vital information from our souls. Myth is the land speaking, and our bodies are our own unique patch of the land. Read more | Reverer of bodies and story carrier, exploring myth, land and body. Website | All ages. 7+ accompanied. |
| 11.00am |  | Stories from Nowhere (Workshop) | Rozalie Hilton | Instant narrative generators! Devices to stimulate imagination and access ideas. Read more | Rozalie is a playful arts facilitator and workshop leader Website | 18+. 6+ accompanied. 90 mins. |
| 12.30pm |  | Quiet Space | Held by Rozalie | A chance to sit under the red skirts of the Alachigh in peaceful silence. | 20 mins | 14+ |
| 1.00pm |  | Quiet Space | Held by Lisa | A chance to sit under the red skirts of the Alachigh in peaceful silence. | 50 mins | 14+ |
| 2.00pm |  | Imagining Landscape (Workshop) | Sara Hurley | A story-making workshop creating a series of images to tell the story. Read more | Sara is the pedal power behind ‘Isabella’s Story Bicycle’, a form of street storytelling inspired by Japanese kamishibai. | 18+. 9+ accompanied. 1hr 45 mins. |
| 4.00pm |  | Ladies Green and Dancing - Three Stories (Story) | Helen Wales | Tales exploring what can happen if we step off that beaten path. Read more | Helen is a storyteller from Cardiff who tells regularly in and around the South Wales area. | 14+ |
| 5.00pm |  | My Other Poems Are Funnier - rhymes from the road to realness. (Poetry) | Beryl the Feral | Performance poet Beryl brings a quirky set from her latest book. Read more | Beryl runs her own poetry stage, teaches poetry through a social prescribing scheme, and is published by Burning Eye Books. Website | 16+ |
| 6.00pm |  | Moon Bird Woman (Mask Dance) | Maggi Squire | A Mask Dance of layers of deep longing for earth. Read more | Maggi is a visual artist, myth and mask-dancer, gong practitioner and performer. Website | 14+ 30 mins |
| 7.00pm |  | The Story of the Red Tent | Sue Charman and Lisa Schneidau | Who were the first women of the Red Tent and what did they do? A discussion around the story of the Red Tent and some modern interpretations. Read more | Sue is an occasional storyteller who loves myths, particularly the old ones... Lisa Schneidau is a storyteller and conservationist living on Dartmoor. | 14+ |
| 8.00pm |  | The Grasshopper of Fate (Story) | Sharon Jacksties | An auspicious birth, or a cursed child? Touching the absurd overcomes the impossible.... Read more | Sharon Jacksties has been telling traditional tales of wonder and delight for over 25 years. | 13+ |
| 9.30pm |  | We are the mythmakers (Poetry & Music) | Magita SpaceWolf | Earthy, ethereal soundscapes with hang drum, shruti and voice combined with sensual love poems. Read more | Growing up in a secluded woodland in Poland, Magita was gifted an introduction to story and song. | |
| Sunday 26 August | ||||||
| 9.00am |  | Quiet Space | Held by Sue | Begin the day meditatively in silence in the Red Alachigh with flute music playing. | Women only. | 50 mins. |
| 10.00am |  | Serakh – from young seeker to wise seer (Story) | Adele Moss | Reappears in every generation to bring answers, insight and hope. Read more | Adele Moss – Jewish storyteller, connecting people across cultures, faiths, generations and communities. | 12+ 40 mins |
| 11.00am |  | Midwifing the wild (Workshop) | Rebecca Smart | There is a wild girl who wears a tattered hood. But if you have the eyes to notice, you might see a crown. How do we behold our wild self? A workshop for women to dive into a story which connects us to the wild feminine, and the art of beholding. Read more | Rebecca works as a storyteller and arts psychotherapist. | Women only. 16+. 1 hour 15 mins. |
| 12.30pm |  | Quiet Space | Held by Rebecca | A chance to sit quietly under the skirts of the Red Alachigh for a moment of sanctuary. | 20 mins | 14+ |
| 1.00pm |  | Quiet Space | Held by Sue | A chance to sit quietly under the skirts of the Red Alachigh for a moment of sanctuary. | 50 mins | 14+ |
| 2.00pm |  | Seal Woman: weaving the wild feminine (Story) | Stacia Keogh | Stacia tells a classic Selkie tale; a second story of an injured seal mother and one of Duncan Williamson's Tales of the Seal People. Read more | Stacia is a storyteller & drama practitioner featuring regularly at story clubs, festivals, libraries, educational establishments, theatres and public events. | 12+ |
| 3.00pm |  | Wild Earth; Wild Women (Story) | Abbie Simmonds | Songs and stories about what it really means to be a woman in traditional tales. Read more | Abbie is a storyteller from Sussex with a love of songs and stories that offer insight into the complex experience of being a woman in the world – then and now. | 12+ Babes in arms very welcome. |
| 4.00pm |  | Genesis (Story) | Cindylou Turner-Taylor | Tales of sexual awakening, the glorious rise to womanhood. Read more | Cindylou tells stories that connect real lives with ancient tales. | 16+ |
| 5.00pm | | The Goose Girl (Story) | Sara Hurley | A Grimm’s story of old queens, new queens, blood, betrayal, geese and talking horses. Read more | Sara is a storyteller, facilitator and community artist with story at the heart of her work. | 10+ |
| 6.00pm |  | Misfortune (Story) | Helen Wales | A retelling of the classic Italian folk tale ‘Sfortuna’. Read more | Helen is a storyteller from Cardiff who tells regularly in and around the South Wales area. | 14+ |
| 7.00pm |  | Shahrazad and the King (Story) | Lisa Schneidau | How one woman changed the mind of a King through story. Read more | Lisa is a storyteller and conservationist from Devon. | 16+ |
| 9.30pm |  | Poetry by Candlelight (Poetry) | Deborah Gearing (with Sue Charman) | My Name is Joan* adult subject matter Poems and dramatic monologues sparked by archive research. Trees. Sudden sunlight. Voices. Poems grown out of meetings with trees. Sue will weave in poems in celebration of trees, the voices of women in myth and maybe some moon musings. Read more | Deborah is a playwright; writing mentor; community projects facilitator/director; mother; daughter. Sue is just developing her poetry and is delighted to have this chance to share the stage with Deborah. | |
| 10.30pm |  | Closing blessing (Ceremony) | Sue Charman, Maggi Squire, Lisa Schneidau | Peace Gong, gratitude, libation | Red Alachigh council members Lisa & Sue with Maggi on gong | 14+ |