Matt Locke's event The Story yesterday was one of the most inspiring days I've been to in a long time. There's something about storytellers that requires humility, or as Nick puts it, they need to "disappear enough", so that the story itself can be visible. True, if the storyteller is too present in the telling, its almost impossible for the listener to be transported somewhere else. You are all to reminded of them.
"It's selfish, really, its the kind of event I wanted to go to." And that is why its has worked. No sessions on storytelling in business (even though that's part or our approach to work), no crass semi-advertising for work. No 'this is how great I am" or "look at my fantastic project'. Just stories.The session was beautifully curated - each selection had a valuable point to contribute. From teen adventurers to fake psychics, to exquisite crafted short pieces, to explaining how a game is a story pieces, all of which the player constructs their ideas of the game from.
The core of a good story is to understand the role the audience plays in listening. Not just passive, but active in giving the story flesh, texture, lighting and making the clues the storyteller fit together in their heads as a more complete imagined entity. Lots of people talk about this in different disciplines - Scott McCloud talks about it in comics. I find it increasingly talked about by those practitioners who understand and value the fact that what happens happens with their audiences, and could not without them.
A couple of stories were difficult to engage with, perhaps because they didn't bring something that the audience could imagine easily and one focussed more on the storyteller and hence wasn't that engaging.
I love to make crafted pranks, and Tim Wright's elaborate efforts for his colleague made me jealous, yet the ongoing back story about his family made me cry. Jody Macintyre's determination made me feel a waste of space - what I don't do with the time and energy I have, was my realisation. Not sure if I was more choked for me, or for his total and amazing fearlessness.
Being read to is one of the pleasures of living, and Tim Etchells 3 pieces were sublime. He plays with us, inverting what we are thinking, and creating surprise. The last one, a list of celebrities and actions - "Samual L Jackson playing Doom…level five". As he mentioned their names, we could easily imaging the characters, as we have read or heard so much about them. What was shocking was that we keep detailed pictures of these people we will never know and will hardy affect us, all in our heads.
I've been playing Echo Bazaar for a while now, so hearing the engineer (Alexis ?) talk about making a million mosaic tiles for us to contract a story with, made perfect sense. And the stories they have been writing for us have a specials resonant quality, which is why I've been back to the game so often.
David Hepworth's final story - a real one, told live - with its symmetry and message of the continuing pattern in the family, was deeply engaging and perfectly told. I just loved it.
The hardest part was to slow down from the tube journey there enough to listen, to forget the people who try to barge through you in their path, or the fight for a space. Listening all day was demanding, and inspiring all at the same time.
Chocolate at the interval, being thrown at the audience by the genial and subtle host Russell Davies - and I got a Kinder Egg. Perfect day!
Nice one, thank you, Matt.
