Monday, June 4, 2007

Story Festival

The Merlin Theatre and Unlimited Company Storytelling Festival was a fantastic sucess over half term. The festival included 5 events ranging from children's workshops to outdoor theatre on ECOS, storytelling and outdoor story trails.

Over 75 people came to embark upon on an adventure in the wildwood on Friday 1st of June. This was a site specific animated Story Trail performed by the Unlimited Company, a treasure hunt style quest around Frome Community College campus. Starting at the Theatre, children and brave adults made their way around the trail where they encounted characters telling traditional tales as they went (see images below). The stories told included Jack the Giant Killer, The Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel and The Five Little Foxes and the Tiger. At the end of the quest children created their own stories and pictures with assistance from a local artist using materials collected on the trail, they enjoyed it so much they we couldn't get rid of them!
It was a great day and the rain held off!!!




The final event of the festival was the Unlimited Company Inclusive Story Circle on Saturday 2 June. This was a free event for adults and was particularly designed to include people who have learning disabilities, families and carers. This event was part of the ArtsXchange initiative in Somerset which offers experiences in different art forms to people with learning disabilities. It was also Trudy's (a member of the Unlimited Company) birthday, what better way to celebrate! See images below...



The Unlimited Company are the only professional organisation of storytellers with learning disabilities in Britain. Last year they were selected as finalists in the Southwest regional awards for projects funded by the Big Lottery. They have been training as storytellers for three years, and now perform regularly at conferences and festivals.

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