| WOSAS : F646 |
WOSAS/CD217/track1 R687.wav |
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Childe Roland
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Dark Tower, The
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| Sound recording, story; Childe Roland or The Dark Tower, a legend and folk tale from Britain collected by Joseph Jacobs, told by Ben Haggarty, a member of The West London Storytelling Unit, at the seventh West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight, at Common Stock Theatre, Hammersmith, London, 27th November 1983 | |
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| Story told by Ben Haggarty. Roland, his older brothers and his sister Burd Ellen are playing. Roland throws their ball over the church. His sister, Burd Ellen goes to find the ball, but she walks around the church widdershins and is captured by the King of Elfland and taken to a dark tower. The older brothers seak the advice of the magician Merlin to rescue their sister, but they too disappear. Then Roland makes the journey, and he succeeds in rescuing his syblings. | |
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| A version of Child Roland was written by Joseph Jacobs in his English Folk and Fairy Tales, published in 1892, and written partly in verse and part in prose. The story is said to be inspired by a Scottish ballad. | |
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| audience:- | adult; contributing storytellers |
| recording quality | |
| condition:- | fair |
| completeness:- | complete |
| duration:- | 0 hours, 5 minutes, 43 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:- |
storyteller: Ben Haggarty male / British / born 30.11.1958 / member of the West London Storytelling Unit |
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| origin:- |
folklorist: Joseph Jacobs
Britain |
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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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| Click to enlarge images | |
| administration:- |
storyteller; promoter: Ben Haggarty storyteller: Daisy Keable; Georgiana Jerstad; Georgiana Keable storyteller; musician: TUUP; Godfrey Duncan |
| storytelling:- |
Hammersmith, London, England: Common Stock Theatre
27 Nov 1983 storytelling club: West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight storytelling club: Clubnight 7 |
| gift from:- |
storyteller: Ben Haggarty |
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