“Storytelling has gained in strength through the difficulties of recent years, because it’s something that connects people,” says Donald Smith, director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival.
This event takes place across Scotland over the next fortnight.
Storytelling helps
“It’s very human-scale culture. For people who have been experiencing isolation or going through difficult things, storytelling has the function of helping get some of those experiences off their backs by listening to a wider community experience, identifying with it and getting out of themselves a bit.
“That’s what storytelling’s done for millennia, it’s a community wellbeing form of culture, and it’s come back into its own.”
The Storytelling Festival, he says, never took time off during the lockdown period, even when the only events possible were outdoor and distanced ones.
Yet 2022’s edition is not only back up to its usual size, thanks to Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022 it’s the largest one yet.
Cost of living crisis
“This year we’re marking Scotland’s Year of Stories, but the other big thing is tackling the cost of living crisis,” says Smith.
“We’ve got a total of about 230 events in the festival, and half of those are free.
“Elsewhere we’ve reduced the charges, nothing costs more than a tenner, and no children’s or family event costs more than a fiver.
“The theme this year is, Keep It Lit. We want to keep arts and culture going, but we want to do it in a way that responds to what’s happening in our society.
“We had a Covid crisis which isn’t totally over, and now we have an equally severe cost of living crisis. We’re utilising this celebration of stories to keep the community tradition that storytelling represents fully alive, and responding to the situation people are dealing with.”
Events in the regions
Storytelling can take many forms, and a range of experiences will be taking place across the local area and online during the festival, many of them instigated by local storytellers under the SISF umbrella.
In Angus, local storyteller Cara Roberts is hosting events in Forfar and Montrose.
Storytelling night Blether Tay-gither has a night at HMS Unicorn in Dundee; Fife has events at Fire Station Creative in Dunfermline and the Ecology Centre at Kinghorn Loch.
There are also a range of shows in Aberfeldy, Dunkeld and at the Crannog Centre in Kenmore.
A satisfying experience
“There’s something very satisfying about successfully communicating an important or an interesting or a humorous experience,” says Smith.
“Tessa Ransford (of the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh) used to say that when it works, it feels like play.
“You can’t have a storytelling experience if the audience isn’t participating. That doesn’t mean they’re shouting out, but a good storyteller remakes their story in the moment with their audience.
It’s an art
“Storytelling is much more of an art than people realise, and there have always been people in communities who have these natural gifts.
“They say that when you see the whites of your audience’s eyes, then you know how to tell your story. It’s got a little bit of magic to it when everybody knows it’s working.”
Scottish International Storytelling Festival is at various venues around the area between Friday October 14 and Monday October 31.
See sisf.org.uk for full listings.
Conversation