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WOSAS : F81	WOSAS/CD41/track2 R91.wav
Birth of Oisin, The
a Fionn MacCumhaill story; Irish Mythology story
Sound recording, story, The Birth of Oisin, a section of the epic cycle of Fionn MacCumhaill stories orginating from Irish mythology, told by Ben Haggarty, in a performance by The Company of Storytellers, at the Third International Storytelling Festival, in The Purcell Room at the The South Bank Centre, London, 22nd November 1989.
Horns blown and music by all three performers, followed by a brief account of the great challenges which members of the Fianna had to succeed at before they could join, followed by story told by Ben Haggarty. Fionn and some of the Fianna were out hunting, with his dogs (his nephews). His dogs let a female deer go free and they follow it. When Fionn catches up with the dogs and the deer, the deer comes forward and licks his hand, and then follows him home to the fort where Fionn is staying. In the night Fionn is woken by a beautiful women, Sabha (Sava), seeking his help, as she is promised in marriage to another, and she is in love with Fionn. Fionn and Sabha marry and live in happiness, but then news comes that raiders have landed in the north. They go to war, but when Fionn returns, he finds Sabha has been lured away by the man she had been promised to. Fionn bans the hunting of deer for three years, but then calls the Fianna to fight deer and in the middle of that fight Fionn's dogs find a boy (Oisin), the son of Sabha and Fionn.
audience:-	adult
recording quality
condition:-	fair; poor
completeness:-	complete
duration:-	0 hours, 23 minutes, 28 seconds
The Company of Storytellers at that time comprised Ben Haggarty, Hugh Lupton and Sally Pomme Clayton.
The Company of Storytellers (C.O.S.T) was formed in March/April 1985 with the expressed aim of performing storytelling for adult audiences. C.O.S.T was actually formed during a tour in East Anglia by Sally Pomme Clayton, Hugh Lupton and Ben Haggarty. The official launch of COST was in 1986 at Common Stock Theatre, London. At this point the members of C.O.S.T were Sally Pomme Clayton, TUUP, Ben Haggarty, Daisy Keable, Hugh Lupton. However TUUP and Daisy Keable did not remain in the group and it is as a trio of storytellers, Ben Haggarty, Hugh Lupton and Sally Pomme Clayton, that C.O.S.T is publicly known. C.O.S.T was disbanded in 1999, but periodically reforms to perform the Three Snake Leaves. The two seminal pieces developed and performed by C.O.S.T were The Three Snake Leaves and I Become Part of It.
Having directed the First International Storytelling festival at Battersea Arts Centre in 1985 and the Second International Storytelling Festival at Watermans Arts Centre in 1987, Ben Haggarty was approached by Ruth McKenzie and the poet Joe Shapcott to Direct a third festival in the series. In 1989 The Third International Storytelling Festival took place at The Southbank Centre, London, and ran for 15 days from 11th to the 25th November. It also had an extensive national touring component that took storytellers to 12 regional venues. The Arts Council subsidised it with a £10,000 grant. The Festival management was undertaken by an agency called the Arts Business. The whole event was under the aegis of the Literature Department, (Lead Officer, Maura Dooley). The festival programme included performances for adult audiences, and school sessions. It was in response to the programming needs for this festival that Ben Haggarty founded and launched the Crick Crack Club, to provide a place where UK based storytellers could develop their repertoire and performance skills for adult audiences.
storytelling:-	storytelling group: The Company of Storytellers
storytelling:-	storyteller; musician: Ben Haggarty male / British / born 30.11.1958
storytelling:-	storyteller; musician: Hugh Lupton male / British / English / Welsh
storytelling:-	storyteller; musician: Sally Pomme Clayton female / British
origin:-	Ireland
	biography for Ben Haggarty printed in festival programme
	biography for Sally Pomme Clayton printed in festival programme
	biography for Hugh Lupton printed in festival programme
	festival poster
	festival programme front cover
	festival programme page 1 showing staff list
	festival programme page 2 showing acknowledgments
	festival programme page 4 showing quite from Heinrich Zimmer
	festival programme page 5 showing introduction
	festival programme page 6 showing image
	festival programme pages 7 to 12 showing interview with Peter Brook
	festival programme page 13 showing advertisment
	festival programme page 14 showing list of regional events associated with the festival
	festival programmes pages 15 to 24 showing artist biographies
	festival programme page 25 showing advertisments
	festival programme page 26 showing a reading list
	festival programme page 27 showing an advertisment for 'Word of Mouth' a Channel 4 Television programme about storytelling in the UK
	festival programme page 28 showing advertisment and a quote from C.S Lewis
	festival programme back cover showing an Irish saying or poem.
	Click to enlarge images
programming & administration:-	programmer; Festival Artistic Director: Ben Haggarty administrator: The Arts Business administrator: Alan Giddings administrator: Richard Crosslands production manager: Eddy Smith production assistant: Hugh Lupton production assistant: Sally Pomme Clayton production assistant: Tom O'Reilly production assistant: Daniel Morden
storytelling:-	London, England: The South Bank Centre: The Purcell Room 22 Nov 1989 festival: The Third International Storytelling Festival festival: The 1989 International Storytelling Festival
gift from:-	storytelling group: The Company of Storytellers

©  The London Centre for International Storytelling: 2007
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