BIOGRAPHIES
PETER CHAND
Peter has been storytelling since 1999, and has entertained audiences all over Britain and beyond with his tales from the Indian Subcontinent. His parents migrated to Britain from the Punjab region in the 1950's, and though he was born in the Midlands, Peter grew up using Punjabi as his first language. He combines these two cultures seamlessly to tell stories full of life, wisdom, and humour
Peter first got involved with storytelling when he performed in a small Yurt at the Festival At The Edge in Shropshire England. Since then, he has performed at various festival venues, including; Beyond The Border South Wales, Traditional Scottish Storytelling Festival Banchory Aberdeenshire, Whitby Folk Festival North Yorkshire, The Birmingham Festival Of Storytelling, and many times at Festival at the Edge itself. Peter has also performed at International events such as Alden Biesen Festival in Belgium, The Story Boat Zwolle Holland, The Forteller Festival Oslo Norway, Festival of World Cultures Ireland, and The Kea Storytelling Festival Greece. He has also told in the Punjab and in Delhi, India.
Peter has also told his stories on BBC Radio Four, BBC Asian Network, and many local radio stations. One of only a handful of full-time Indian Storytellers working in Britain today Peter's performances are energetic, engaging. He tells his stories with humour, warmth and great relish.
SALLY POMME CLAYTON
Sally Pomme Clayton is a writer and performance storyteller who has performed for adults and children since 1984 and is a founding member of The Company of Storytellers with Ben Haggarty and Hugh Lupton - spearheading storytelling in the UK.
From witty folktales to wild romances, she has a huge repertoire of stories drawn from all over the world. She has performed in venues across the UK, including The National Gallery; 40 Winks Hotel; The Barbican; The Soho Theatre; Northern Stage Edinburgh Book Festival; The National Theatre; The Horniman Museum; Cheltenham Music Festival; Bristol Old Vic; Aberystwyth Arts Centre; Ilkley Literature Festival, and 11 Downing Street... Sally Pomme Clayton's performances combine poetic language, startling imagery and playful humour. She has been a featured artist in many European Storytelling Festivals and toured with The British Council to Spain, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Sweden and Portugal.
‘One of the country’s most highly regarded storytellers ... she awakens the imagination’. The Independent
‘She delights in subverting her audiences expectations ... subtly tweaking and twisting the stories to suit the responses and demands of the audience’. The Independent
Sally Pomme has published several books, often working with illustrator Sophie Herxheimer - including ‘Amazons! Women Warriors of the World’; 'Tales Told in Tents - stories from Central Asia' and 'The Girl who Married a Bear'. Her latest is 'Rama and Sita - Path of Flames' (Frances Lincoln 2010).
BEN HAGGARTY
Ben trained with Welfare State International Theatre as their first apprentice ‘Image Maker’ in 1978 and as a Theatre Director, at East 15 acting school in 1979. He counts the writers Alan Garner and PL Travers and the Theatre Director, Peter Brook among his mentors.
Ben Haggarty is a world-class performance storyteller renowned for his playful and dynamic performances of traditional narratives ranging from 3-minute fables to 3-hour epics. His extensive international repertoire includes performances based on Indo-European wondertales, the Fionn MacCumhiall cycle, The epic of Gilgamesh and modern myths such as Frankenstein and Mr Sandmann: Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares. He has been a guest artist in over one hundred International Storytelling Festivals in 25 countries. Since 2001 he has been the official storyteller for Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble project, devising family concerts combining stories and music for performances to audiences of up to 15,000 people.
‘I was spell-bound – I don’t use the word lightly’. The Times
‘Haggarty tells his stories with enormous relish and gusto’.
The Independent
Ben has been featured on numerous radio programmes including BBC Radio 4’s Midweek, A Good Read, and The Today Programme. He was a researcher and consultant for the selection of the stories for Jim Henson’s ‘Storyteller' series on Channel 4. Ben has made field-trips to research epic singing traditions in Northern and Central India and in Central Asia, and is the British Council literature department’s special advisor on storytelling. Ben is a much sought after teacher and director of storytellers and is the founder and artistic director of the Crick Crack Club. In 2007 he was appointed Honorary Professor of Storytelling at the Arts University of Berlin (UDK). Ben’s graphic novel, ‘MeZolith’, was published by Random House in 2010. This exploration of the archaeology of the imagination was selected as one of The Times’ ‘Graphic Novels of the Year 2010’.
SHERRY ROBINSON
With a background in performing arts, Sherry Robinson is a musician and composer whose sensitivity for the human response to narrative gives rise to the exquisite drama and subtle emotion of her music.
From the 1980s to 90s Sherry worked as a musician with singer-songwriters, performance artists, poets, dancers and actors, in numerous London based galleries, theatres & alternative spaces including Whitechapel, Riverside and Chisenhale galleries. She was a member of the London Musician’s Collective; she performed in bands; worked with improvised music, and in ensembles of folk traditional music, from the British Isles, Scandinavia, France and Latin America.
Sherry's work with performance storytelling began in earnest in 1996, when she formed a partnership with performance storyteller Xanthe Gresham, which led to 10 years of collaborative work, devising music for myths, legends, epics, folk tales and riddles, for performances in festivals, schools, theatres, museums, galleries and libraries throughout England, Wales and Ireland. Sherry first worked with Ben Haggarty to create and perform 'Beauty and the Beast' in 2002, with the performance premiering in a Castle Rose Garden at the Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival. In the mid 2000s Sherry worked as a musician for Playback Theatre and for a number of installation artists. She worked with storyteller Hugh Lupton composing music for his piece 'Song Speak', and recorded with Nick Hennessey on his CD 'A Rare Hunger'.
HUGH LUPTON
Hugh Lupton’s interest in traditional music, in street theatre, in live poetry, and in myth, coupled with a degree in Education, resulted in him becoming a professional storyteller in 1981. In 1985 he formed the Company of Storytellers with colleagues Ben Haggarty and Sally Pomme Clayton, pioneering professional storytelling for adults. Hugh's style of storytelling is very distinctive, focussing on the crafted use of English language. Over the last ten years, Hugh has worked collaboratively with singer and composer Helen Chadwick, with violinist Chris Wood, with percussionist Rick Wilson, and with artist Liz McGowan, widening and challenging the possibilities of the form. His work with Daniel Morden on the Greek has received wide acclaim, and the duo has been awarded the 2005 Classical Association prize for ‘the most significant contribution to the public understanding of the classics’.
‘One of Britain’s finest storytellers’. The Times
‘...as you journey deeper into the world of imagination… the tears start slowly to well up inside you and spill...’ The Times (for Praise Songs, with Chris Wood)
Hugh has published several collections of folk-tales including 6 anthologies for Barefoot Books, amongst them, the award winning ‘Tales of Wisdom and Wonder’. Hugh's first novel, based on the life of poet John Clare, was published in 2010. He has appeared on radio and television (most recently Late Junction on Radio 3, Something Understood on Radio 4, King Arthur on the Discovery Channel and Beowulf for the Open University on BBC 2). Hugh's song ‘One in a Million’ (co-written with Chris Wood) won the BBC 2 folk awards for ‘Original Song of the Year’ 2005.
THE COMPANY OF STORYTELLERS
'The Company of Storytellers...have spearheaded the revival of storytelling in this country, helping to transform it from a moribund anachronism to a vigorous and contemporary form of entertainment'. The Independent
The Company of Storytellers was formed in 1985 by three pioneers of the British Storytelling revival, Hugh Lupton, Ben Haggarty and Sally Pomme Clayton, with the expressed aim of performing stories for adult audiences and to create performances which no solo performer could achieve alone. Between them they had a collective repertoire of more than 700 traditional folktales, fairytales, epics and myths. They toured regularly and extensively throughout Britain and abroad for fifteen years until 2000. They ceased to work as a company so they could all devote more time to exploring their own highly individualistic styles and techniques – and subsequently have each earned international renown as solo artists.
The vast majority of storytellers in England and Wales were inspired to become so following performances and workshops lead by the Company, as indeed were many storytellers in other parts of Europe.
'The Company of Storytellers...demonstrate that the old stories still have potency to enchant, terrify and reassure audiences of all ages'. The Times Educational Supplement
DYLAN FOWLER & GILLIAN STEVENS
Although they come from very different musical backgrounds, they have found common ground in their desire to ignore musical categories and draw on both the traditional music of their home country, Wales, and their own original creative approaches. The inspiration gained from traveling and working with musicians from many other cultures adds a further layer of richness to their performance.
Together they have taken part in numerous international collaborations, such as with Norwegian singer, Asne Valland-Nordli, in the Bath Festival, and Nicolai Ivanov in the Salon des Arts festival in Sofia. Of particular importance has been the collaboration with Finnish kantele player Timo Vaananen, with whom they formed ‘Taith Trio.’ This has led to performances in Finland, Belgium, Italy and Hungary and also to the composition by Gillian of a new kantele concerto, which was performed in 2009 by Timo with the Mikkeli string orchestra and Dylan on drums.
Over the last few years they have also performed as a duo in festivals in Greece, Italy, Belgium, France and Bulgaria. Using a range of instruments including guitar, mandocello, drums, clarinet, viola da gamba, treble viol and the ancient Welsh crwth they create a magical and spell-binding atmosphere. Their new CD ,‘Still and Still Moving’ has recently been released with Taith Records.