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WOSAS/CD352/track3 R1148.wav |
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Skull and the Minister,
The
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| Sound recording, story; The Skull and the Minister from the Scottish traveller tradition, told by Sheila Stewart, at The Crick Crack Club The Old Farm House Pub, Kentish Town, London 26th November 1991. | |
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| A story told by Sheila Stewart about a young minister, a talking skull, a journey through time, parables and punishment. A young minister finds the skull of a previous minister of the parish, which talks. The two fall into conversation and the minister invites the skull to tea the following Sunday. The skull visits and then returns the invitation and invites the minister to his house, but warns him to ignore everything he sees on the journey. The minister makes the journey, and on the way passes a number of events and images based on three parables. When the minister leaves the skull's house, he is warned not to dismount from his horse without first throwing down a blanket which the skull gives to him. The minister journeys home, and finds that hundreds of years have passed. He finds a women who remembers the story of the missing minister, and in his excitement he forgets to throw down the blanket before dismounting from his horse. As his feet touch the ground, he turns to dust. | |
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| The programme note reads - 'Sheila and her 15 year old grandson come from a famous Scots traveller family; The Stewarts of Blairgowrie. Their repertoire of folk tale, wonder tale and ballad dates back at least 500 years. A rich evening from a living tradition. | |
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| audience:- | adult |
| recording quality | |
| condition:- | good |
| completeness:- | complete |
| duration:- | 0 hours, 14 minutes, 41 seconds |
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| This event was advertised as a joint performance by Sheila Stewart and Rob Roy McGregor, but Ian McGregor performed in the place of Rob Roy. | |
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| 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. | |
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| 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 | |
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| storytelling:- |
storyteller; ballad singer; singer: Sheila Stewart female / traveller / Scottish |
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| origin:- |
Scotland
traveller |
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| Crick Crack Club season flyer and event listing | |
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| Click to enlarge images | |
| associated:- |
storyteller; ballad singer; singer; musician: Ian McGregor
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| 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
26 Nov 1991 storytelling club: The Crick Crack Club public performance radio production |
| gift from:- |
Marc Jobst |
email to The LCIS