The Storyteller as Performer: Exploring the praxis of a contemporary reteller of traditional tales

7.30 – 9.30 pm Friday 3 March (week 7)
Lecture Room 23, Balliol College
Running time: 120 mins (story 60 mins, discussion 60 mins)
Refreshments provided.

The Reimagining Performance Network is delighted to host Ben Haggarty (Visiting Research Fellow in the Creative Arts at Merton College) for a performance of The Blacksmith at the Bridge of Bones followed by a discussion on the art of storytelling.

THE BLACKSMITH AT THE BRIDGE OF BONES
A blacksmith
A boy
A wolf
A serpent queen
And the King’s youngest daughter…

World renowned for his playful and physical performances, let Ben Haggarty lure you into a full-blooded fairytale for grown-ups. This is a story of power, knowledge, alchemy, initiation, and the darkest magic of all. Evocative, unflinching, and beautiful by turn, it explores that enduring relationship between a teacher and an apprentice. This is a place where rules aren’t broken lightly.

‘Everything a fairy tale should be…unmissable’ **** EVERYTHING THEATRE
‘The doyen of Storytellers’ **** REMOTE GOAT
‘I was spellbound, I don’t use the word lightly’ ERICA WAGNER, THE TIMES

Content warning: The performance contains references to violence, mutilation, and animal cruelty, contextualised within a paradigm of mythic narrative, archetype, and metaphor.

Ben Haggarty is world-class storyteller celebrated for his uncompromising, elemental channelling of ancient myth, epic, and fairytale. He is currently Visiting Research Fellow in the Creative Arts at Merton College, Oxford.