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an Ananse story

Sound recording, story; an Afro-Caribbean trickster tale, an aetiological or how and why story, and Ananse story, told by Jan Blake, at The Crick Crack Club at The Old Farm House Pub, Kentsh Town, London 10th October 1991

Call and response followed by story told by Jan Blake about Ananse, Puss and Rat arguing over who is the best dancer. Ananse and Puss shame the proud Rat at a public dance, which explains why rats live in holes in the walls, and why cats don't like them.

Programme note reads - Jan, who is of Jamaican parentage, sings and tells tales of Anansi, the Ashanti trickster-god-spider-man. TUUP, who is of guyanese parentage, tells stories from the tribal cultures of the world. Together they make for an evening of wild humour, song and rhythm

audience:- adult
    recording quality
condition:- good
completeness:- complete
duration:- 0 hours, 6 minutes, 16 seconds

This event was a shared performance by Jan Blake and TUUP.

This is one of a series of recordings made by Marc Jobst to create a pilot of a series of radio programmes entitled Cracking Tales for broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Pilots were made, but the programme was never broadcast.

The Crick Crack Club was founded by Ben Haggarty in 1987 and was the first regular performance storytelling club to be established in the UK. From the outset, the club operated with a programme of storytellers put in place by an artistic director, Ben Haggarty. It had no 'floor spots' whereby anyone had the opportunity to tell stories. The club was created in response to a recognised need for there to be sufficient UK storytellers to perform competent, formal evening shows for adult audiences in the proposed 1989, 15 day long, Third International Storytelling Festival at London's South Bank Centre. In the autumn of 1987 the first season of 26 weekly Crick Crack Club events was launched in a pub theatre (The Chair) in Ladbrook Grove, with the expressed aim of trying out new artists and providing an opportunity for established artists to develop their skills and repertoire for adults. Jenny Pearson of the Kew Storytellers helped Ben Haggarty with the organisation of this first season.The Crick Crack Club promoted weekly events in various venues in London between 1987 and 1995, and then monthly events at the Spitz from 1995 to 2001. During this time it also organised numerous monthly events and mini-festivals in regional arts venues throughout England. In 1991/92 wth £10,000 from the Arts Council Literature department it tried to establish a touring circuit promoting 120 events in a year. Daniel Morden gave invaluable administrative support during this period. In 1993, in partnership with David Ambrose of St. Donats Arts Centre in Wales, the Crick Crack Club Club created the Beyond the Border International Festival of Storytelling and Epic Singing. Ben Haggarty co-directed Beyond the Border from 1993 to 2005. Since 2001 the Crick Crack Club has worked on a peripatetic basis, programming in various venues and in partnership with various organisations, and in 2003 began a long-term partnership with Barbican Education in London, to promote 9 events a year in the Barbican Pit Theatre

storytelling:- storyteller: Jan Blake
female / British Jamaican / African Caribbean / British / born 18.03.1964

origin:- Jamaica
Afro-Caribbean


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Crick Crack Club season flyer and event listing

Click to enlarge images


associated:- storyteller; musician; singer: TUUP; Godfrey Duncan


use:- BBC Radio 4
Marc Jobst

radio broadcast pilot


administration & programming:- administrator; programmer: The Crick Crack Club
administrator; programmer; Artistic Director: Ben Haggarty


storytelling:- Kentish Town, London, England: The Old Farm House Pub
10 Oct 1991
storytelling club: The Crick Crack Club
public performance
radio production


gift from:- Marc Jobst


©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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