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Tiny Little Woodman, A

Sound recording, story; A Tiny Little Woodman, a wonder tale from Ghana, told using objects, by Jeorg Baesecke and Hedwig Rost, as part of the programme, Around the World in Eighty Minutes, in a mini-festival of stories, The North Wind Speaks, programmed by the Crick Crack Club and Barbican Education, in the Pit Theatre, Barbican Centre, London, 11th November 2005.

Story told using the smallest stage in the world, illustrated using objects on the Smallest Stage in the World, 'Die Kleinste Buhne der Welt', a stage which is opened out from suitcase a on Jeorg Baesecke's lap.

A farmer catches a little wooden man stealing the palm wine from his farm. In return the woodman grants the farmer the gift of being able to understand the language of animals, provided that he never reveals his secret power, otherwise he himself will be turned into a wooden man. Later that day the famer hears a cockeral reveal the whereabouts of buried treasure, outside the famer's house. He digs and finds the treasure and then reburies it, thus keeping his secret. A few days later his wife and he make the journey to a the wedding of the wife's cousin, carrying with them a basket of dumplings as a gift. On the way they rest and sleep.The wife wakes first and eats some of the dumplings, but blames it on the mice, when the famer notices that the dumplings are missing. The famer hears some mice complaining about the accusation and exclaims outloud. This makes his wife curious and suspicious. At the wedding the wife asks all the other guest to question and pester the famer until finally he gives in and reveals his secret and what he heard from the cockeral and from the mice. He turns into a wooden man and dissapears off into the forest, never to be seen again. From that day on, no-one has again been able to understand the langauge of the animals.

audience:- adult
    recording quality
condition:- good
completeness:- complete
duration:- 0 hours, 11 minutes, 49 seconds

In 2003, Jillian Barker, Head of Education at the Barbican Centre, London, approached Ben Haggarty, Artistic Director of the Crick Crack Club, with a proposal to programme regular performance storytelling at the Barbican Centre. Since 2003 the Crick Crack Club has worked in partnership with Barbican Education to programme 9 events a year in the Barbican Pit Theatre, for adult audiences. These events are programmed during the three school half terms each year, with usually three evening events per half term. The performances of storytelling are occasionally preceded by pre-show talks. The Pit Theatre is an award winning black box theatre, which seats approximately 180 people (depending on the seating configuration).

storytelling:- storyteller: Jeorg Baesecke
male / German / German, North West / born 07.02.1954

storytelling:- storyteller: Hedwig Rost
female / German / German, West / Bavarian / born 01.05.1959

origin:- Ghana


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


storytelling:- London, England: The Barbican Centre: The Pit Theatre
11 Nov 2005
mini-festival; public performance: The North Wind Speaks
Around the World in Eighty Minutes


gift from:- The Barbican Centre


©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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