| WOSAS : F559 |
WOSAS/CD207/track1 R601.wav |
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Guard's Finger, The
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| Sound recording, game; The Guard's Finger, a game led by Ben Haggarty, a member of the West London Storytelling Unit, at the first West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight , at The Last Chance Centre, Hammersmith, London, 11th April 1983. | |
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| Introduction to the first West London Storytelling Unit clubnight by Ben Haggarty, and introduction to a game by Ben Haggarty, followed by game, based on a short narrative played out by members of the audience. One person is elected as guard, is blindfolded and given a set of keys to guard. Others have to try to take the keys without being pointed at by the blindfolded guard. | |
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| audience:- | adult; contributing storytellers |
| recording quality | |
| condition:- | fair |
| completeness:- | complete |
| duration:- | 0 hours, 7 minutes, 29 seconds |
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| The West London Storytelling Unit Clubnights or The Storytelling Unit Clubnights were begun by Ben Haggarty, TUUP and Daisy Keable in 1982 shortly after beginning to work together as the West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U). They took place on roughly a fortnightly basis during the atumn and winter months, in community centres in Acton, Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith. The clubnights were an opportunity for anyone to come and tell a story, or perform music on the condition that it had a toe-hold in tradition. The performance of original poetry and the reading of original writing was actively discouraged as there were plenty of other fora for 'new writing' elsewhere in London. In 2007 Ben Haggarty explained that the clubnight format was in part inspired by the College of Storytellers, but with the aim of doing something less bourgeois, for a younger audience and which was not dominated by Idries Shah's mission to promote his vision of Sufi storytelling. The clubnights also took inspiration from the anarchy of the London Musicians Collective clubnight events in Camden. The clubnights led Ben Haggarty to inaugurate the First UK International Storytelling Festival at Battersea Arts Centre in London in January 1985. After the 1985 festival a few further clubnights were run, before ending in 1986. The clubnights were superseded by the formation of the Company of Storytellers who pioneered the touring of adult evening shows throughout the UK, and by the formation of the Crick Crack Club in 1987, which focused on the programming and development of professional storytellers, their performance skills and their repertoire for adult audiences. | |
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| The West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U), was founded in 1981, by members Ben Haggarty, Godfrey Duncan and Daisy Keable and based in an Afro-Caribbean Youth Centre, the Priory in Acton. The members worked together and as solo artists, telling stories mainly in school and community contexts in London. Over time performances for adults also began to be developed. In 1983 W.L.S.T.U became The Storytelling Unit with Marva Cumberbatch, Pomme Clayton, Daisy Keable. In or around 1985 Daisy Keable and Marva Cumberbatch left the Storytelling Unit, at which point Ben Haggarty rejoined and worked with Sally Pomme Clayton for a brief period before the group was disbanded. The increased interest and demand for storytelling performance for adults led to the formation of The Company of Storytellers in 1985. | |
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| storytelling game:- |
storyteller: Ben Haggarty male / British / born 30.11.1958 / member of the West London Storytelling Unit |
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| clubnight promotional invitation written by TUUP | |
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| clubnight letter written by members of the West London Storytelling Unit | |
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| Postcard flyer for the clubnight 1 drawn by Ben Haggarty | |
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| Flyer for clubnight 1 | |
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| Click to enlarge images | |
| administration:- |
storyteller; promoter: Ben Haggarty storyteller: Daisy Keable; Georgiana Jerstad; Georgiana Keable storyteller; musician: TUUP; Godfrey Duncan |
| storytelling game:- |
Hammersmith, London, England: The Last Chance Centre
11 Apr 1983 storytelling club: West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight storytelling club: Clubnight 1 |
| gift from:- |
storyteller: Ben Haggarty |
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