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WOSAS : F1058 WOSAS/CD346/track1
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Peik

Sound recording, story; a version of Si Djeha and the Robbers, a Norwegian trickster tale, folk tale and lying tale, told by Abbi Patrix, at The Crick Crack Club at The Old Farm House Pub, Kentsh Town, London, 28th February 1991.

Introduction by Ben Haggarty to the event and to Abbi Patrix, followed by introduction by Abbi to the material he will tell, with comment about the revival of the art-form in France, and story told by Abbi Patrix, accompanying himself on an African thumb piano. A story about the renowned liar, Peik and his sister Peika. Peik tricks the King into giving him a horse, into buying a cauldron which magically gives food, and eventually into killing his own Queen and daughter. The King then tries to kill Peik, by encasing him in a barrel to be thrown over a cliff, but Peik tricks a merchant into exchanging places with him. When Peik reappears before the King, Peik convinces him that he has returned from the bottom of the cliff with riches, and the King throws himself off a cliff in a barrel and is killed.

R823 is a recording of Abbi Patrix telling the same story in 1985, at The First International Storytelling Festival at Battersea Arts Centre, London. The same story exists as Si Djeha and the Robbers from the Arab World, told by Hugh Lupton in R928 and R1250, and as an Irish traveller tale told by Mikeen McCarthy in R850

Programme note reads - The Magnificent French storyteller, Abbi Patrix, presents an informal evening of Norwegian Folk and Wonder Tales. Unmissable.

audience:- adult
language:- English; French
    recording quality
condition:- good
completeness:- complete
duration:- 0 hours, 29 minutes, 46 seconds

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: Abbi Patrix
male / French / Norwegian

storytelling:- Master of Ceremonies; Crick Crack Club Artistic Director: Ben Haggarty
male / British / born 30.11.1958 / occupation performance storyteller; promoter

origin:- Norway Scandinavia


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thumbnail, click for 
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Crick Crack Club season flyer and event listing

Click to enlarge images


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
28 Feb 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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