Katrice's Blog

I have just found out that I am to become the National Storytelling Laureate. I am very honoured and excited at the prospect. The great Taffy Thomas was made the first Laureate two years ago and although our styles are very different I hope I can continue to do the role justice.

I plan to raise the profile of the importance of storytelling, not just as an amazing performance art but also as a necessity within our schools, communities and lives .... how can we make sense of our worlds without creating narratives??

I will write down my journey here, in the hope that some of you will read it and perhaps enjoy travelling with me for the next two years.

I have just found out that I am to become the National Storytelling Laureate. I am very honoured and excited at the prospect. The great Taffy Thomas was made the first Laureate two years ago and although our styles are very different I hope I can continue to do the role justice.

I plan to raise the profile of the importance of storytelling, not just as an amazing performance art but also as a necessity within our schools, communities and lives .... how can we make sense of our worlds without creating narratives??

I will write down my journey here, in the hope that some of you will read it and perhaps enjoy travelling with me for the next two years.

I always think of new shows as living beneath the sea of my imagination. They float and meander in those dark, salty depths and then a thought, an idea will bubble to the surface and blind me, but it will be singular perhaps - just one bright thing, not enough for a show. So I wait to see what else surfaces, some objects that appear are lovely but will not blend into that first one and so I trawl through them, lifting some and keeping them, throwing others back in for another day. I cannot think - "right I am going to develop a new show in the next month" - try to fight ideas down and hammer them into a shape on a page, in my mouth, in my mind - no I cannot force a tale!

So with this in mind the new show, The Crow, the Maiden and the Devil has really taken about three years from first thought to first showing and it was soooo well received. I was a little scared as there is little light and shade in it - it is very intense. I am certaily not the Mistress of Mischievousness when delivering it! Cat Weatherill descibed it as a tsunami of emotion - she was overwhelmed but sometimes we need to trust that the audience can deal with so much darkness. I think I have patronised audiences in the past by keeping it light and funny - perhaps the laughter is more about my needs ...... "yes they are listening!"

So this is not to say that i will now only be telling dark and troubled tales that link into the dried womb and grey hairs that now are part of my physical life - no! Even with a womb that has tumbleweed blowing across it, one can rattle out a good laugh - I just choose to share another part of my psyche with you - because i trust you with it and I hope you trust me as the one who leads the journey and the one who returns you safely.