WOSAS : F522
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WOSAS/CD191/track1 & WOSAS/CD192/track1
R559.wav
R560.wav
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Gilgamesh
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Epic of Gilgamesh, The
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Sound recording, story; Gilgamesh, a version
of the Sumerian epic cycle, myth and legend, told by Ben
Haggarty, with musical accompaniment by Manya Maratou, in a
mini-festival of stories, Herioc Journeys, The Epic of Gilgamesh,
programmed by the Crick Crack Club and Barbican Education, in the
Pit Theatre, Barbican Centre, London, 15th February
2006.
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Introduction by Jillian Barker, Head of
Education at the Barbican Centre. Followed by introduction to
Gilgamesh and to the storytelling form by Ben Haggarty, including
commentary on two different types of epic, the epics of death and
the epics of life. Followed by story performed in two halves by
Ben Haggarty, accompanied by musician Manya Maratou. The story
tells of the birth of Gilgamesh and of his friend Enkidu, and
their adventures together, often in conflict with gods and
goddeses. Gilgamesh and Enkidu make a great journey to gather
timber from a cedar forest, to fire kilns to make bricks, in
order to build a great wall around the city of Uruk. Having
completed this great task, Gilgamesh is approached by Ishtar, the
goddess of love who seeks his hand in marriage. Rejected, she
calls on the bull of heaven to punish Gilgamesh and in the fight
which follows, Enkidu is fatally wounded. Having lost his friend
and companion Gilgamesh sets out on a journey to seek out eternal
life. He travels into the underworld to find Utnapishtim, the
only human granted eternal life by the gods. When he finds
Utnapishtim he is faced with the challenge to stay awake, as
prepartion for eternal life, but he fails, and returns empty
handed to live as a mortal man and King of Uruk.
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A section of programme note reads - This 5,000
year old story raises questions that are still relevant today,
exploring tyranny, the search for eternal life, the threat of
apocalypse and the secrets of the gods.
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Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded
stories in the world. Gilgamesh, an ancient king of Uruk, in
Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq),
lived at about 2700 B.C and his names survives on the Sumerian
King List. Some of the stories of Gilgamesh were written down on
clay tablets in 2000- 1500 B.C, in the Sumerian language. These
Sumerian Gilgamesh stories were intergrated into a longer poem
recorded in Akkadian, in the seventh century B.C, and stored in
the famous library of King Assurbanipal, King of Assyria 669 -
633 B.C, and also on tablets written in Hurrian and Hittite. All
the above languages were written in the script known as
'cuneiform', meaning 'wedge-shaped'. The fullest surviving
verison of the story of Gilgamesh comes from 12 stone tablets in
the Akkadian language, found in the ruins of the library of King
Assurbanipa, at Nineveh, which was destroyed by the Persians in
612 B.C.
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audience:-
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adult
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recording quality
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condition:-
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good
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completeness:-
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complete
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duration:-
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1 hour, 52 minutes, 35 seconds
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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).
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storytelling:-
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storyteller: Ben Haggarty
male / British / born 30.11.1958
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storytelling:-
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musician: Manya Maratou
female / Greek
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storytelling:-
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Master of Ceremonies: Jillian Barker
female / British / occupation Educationalist; Head of Barbican
Education
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origin:-
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Iraq
Mesapotamian
Sumerian
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event flyer
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Click to enlarge images
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programming & administration:-
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programmer; Crick Crack Club Artistic Director: Ben Haggarty
programmer: The Crick Crack Club
administrator; programmer: The Barbican Centre; Barbican
Education
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storytelling:-
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London, England: The Barbican Centre: The Pit Theatre
15 Feb 2006
mini-festival; public performance: Herioc Journeys
The Epic of Gilgamesh
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gift from:-
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The Barbican Centre
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© The London Centre for International Storytelling:
2007