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Mr Fox
a Blue Beard story

Sound recording, story; Mr Fox a folk tale from the Blue Beard story group, told by Ben Haggarty, a member of The West London Storytelling Unit, at the sixth West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight, at Common Stock Theatre, Hammersmith, London, 13th November 1983

Story told by Ben Haggarty. Lady Mary falls in love with and becomes engaged to Mr Fox. Mr Fox refuses to take Lady Mary to his house, so one day she rides there herself. Lady Mary enters the house and finds a room full of butchered maidens. As she is there, Mr Fox returns with another body of a girl. He cuts off the dead girls hand to get to the wedding ring on her finger, and her hand lands in Lady Mary's lap where she is hiding. When next Mr Fox and Lady Mary meet, she challenges him, producing the hand, and Mr Fox is killed by Lady Mary's brothers.

audience:- adult; contributing storytellers
    recording quality
condition:- fair
completeness:- complete
duration:- 0 hours, 5 minutes, 33 seconds

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 The clubnights were superseded by the formation of the Company of Storytellers who pioneered the touring of adult evening shows throughout the UK, and by the formation of the Crick Crack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.

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.

storytelling:- storyteller: Ben Haggarty
male / British / born 30.11.1958 / member of the West London Storytelling Unit

origin:- Europe


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Images of clubnight events at Common Stock Theatre

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White master-copy of flyer for clubnight 6, clubnight 7 and clubnight 8.

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Green version of flyer for clubnight 6, clubnight 7 and clubnight 8.

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administration:- storyteller; promoter: Ben Haggarty
storyteller: Daisy Keable; Georgiana Jerstad; Georgiana Keable
storyteller; musician: TUUP; Godfrey Duncan


storytelling:- Hammersmith, London, England: Common Stock Theatre
13 Nov 1983
storytelling club: West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight
storytelling club: Clubnight 6


gift from:- storyteller: Ben Haggarty


©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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