WITH THE DEVIL'S ASSISTANCE
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Sit down, I’ll tell you a story...
Maggie Obsorne made a deal with the devil to bring prosperity to Ayr high street, and built a business in just one night with Auld Horny himself. The town boomed, so the people burned Maggie alive. The deal broke though and whilst I’m not saying any of this is true… just look at the state of Scotland's high streets now. Call a town meeting! A highly physical storytelling performance from Shona Cowie, with original live music from accordionist Neil Sutcliffe. Upcoming Shows |
HEAR US AND HASTEN
Performers Ffion Phillips and Ailsa Dixon
Dramaturg Shona Cowie
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Hear Us And Hasten is a collaboratively devised storytelling performance deeply rooted in the North Sea and North Welsh landscapes of the performer’s homes. Created by two of Britain’s foremost teenage storytellers, Ffion Phillips and Ailsa Dixon this show is an upfront reckoning with the climate‘s fragility and those narratives, both old and new, which so easily cast young people’s bodies into the jaws of waiting beasts. But, this show is, most importantly, a celebration of being alive, right now. As Ffion and Ailsa say - it’s a triangle; story, people, landscapes, if connection between any of these three is weak we all suffer.
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...they took us, in our imagination, on a sensory journey from the theatre into the wild ... The performance moved me to tears, because of the strength and simplicity with which the storytellers conveyed their hopes and fears for the future of the planet.
Storyteller Fiona Collins
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Upcoming Shows |
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BEWARE THE BEASTSScotland was once full of magical beasts, absolutely full of them; bog goblins, dragons, naughty fairies, brownies, bony-backed-horsemen... all sorts. For the last 200 years they’ve kept themselves to themselves but recently, with lockdown and humans quietly stuck in their homes, the beasts have become braver, now they’re back.
For your protection, storyteller Shona Cowie will introduce the most fearsome of these creatures, provide case studies from successful monster evaders such as Granny and Wee Jamie and will instruct you in the most effective ways to avoid being squashed, trapped in a rock or turned into a nugget. You're Welcome. Upcoming Shows |
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The Herald - BEST OF SCOTLAND
20 Must see Scottish shows at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Storyteller Shona Cowie is our guide to Caledonia's creatures in this show suitable for ages four and up, and she makes an ideal host... |
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CAREERING CLINIC
Intimate, insightful, potent work, from an artist at the height of her powers. |
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“I often get asked - how did I become a storyteller, and that story begins with being told I’d become a fish-farm manager.”
Shona Cowie, Storyteller / Temporary Careers Advisor In these times of change and re-evaluation, you are invited you to the Careering Clinic, an interactive storytelling encounter for audiences of up to 3 people who are interested in having a very different conversation about their future. This playful 25 minute performance uses traditional storytelling, gentle clowning and improvisation to ask how we prepare for the unknown. Each encounter will be responsive to the audience and so each will be unique, but all will involve giggling, scratching of heads and the uncovering life-changing inspiration. So, forget everything you think you know about career advice, about standarsing metrics and personality tests. Storyteller Shona Cowie, has her own methods and they may or may not involve fish. This project was a commissioned by the Scottish International Storytelling Festival
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PAST PERFORMANCE
MIRACULI:THEATRE SENZA
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Lampedusa is a speck of Italian soil in the Mediterranean. Those on their journeys between Europe and North Africa, have passed through for thousands of years and so It has earned the name; Porta d’Europa: Doorway to Europe. In the last twenty years attempts to reach the island have claimed the lives of thousands. Their deaths often going by unreported or misrepresented and so it falls to the island to confront the reality of human loss.
By exploring the dynamics and paradoxes of the island, Miraculi wishes to give a fresh perspective on both Lampedusa and the so-called ‘issue’ of migration. What does everyday life involve for those inhabiting Europe’s edges? How do these stories speak to us all? Théâtre Senza’s international troupe of Lecoq trained actors will take their audience to Europe’s southernmost island: Lampedusa, a place where nothing is as it seems, or as it should be. Along the way the audience will meet fisherman, tourists, migrants, divers, the military, children and dogs. In this devised piece, stories coexist and collide to form a moving portrait of life at the frontier. |
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More on The Research: Lampedusa Project
The play is the culmination of more than 3 years ethnographic research carried out by Director and Writer, Valentina Zagaria. The company formed around the project and the roots of Zagaria’s research. In September 2013 these roots took hold as the company lived on Lampedusa to research and create during a month’s residency. We observed and interviewed, talked, ate, mourned and sunbathed, immersing ourselves in the island and its life. We worked alongside the local municipality running workshops with young people in order to understand their crucial opinions, which are often overlooked by the media. We also worked closely with the cultural and activist group Askavusa, learning through them, local dialects, songs and myths. They also gave us an insight into the humanitarian efforts volunteered by islanders and the political struggles faced by all who, as a result of geography, are impacted.
Daily rehearsals were focused on digesting theatrically our observations and discoveries. By playing with our various languages and movement training we drew pieces of the island together and in doing so began an exploration of bigger questions of belonging, responsibility, and humanity. We presented our research through street performance and received feedback from the islanders and those passing through.
This immersive rehearsal and research period was a crucial impetus for the devising process and early experiments of processing and presenting anthropological research through theatre. Théâtre Senza returned to Paris three days before the shipwreck that put Lampedusa on the front page of newspapers worldwide. On this occasion, over 300 people died. However, thousands have died in the seas around the island over the last 20 years with minor media coverage
The play is the culmination of more than 3 years ethnographic research carried out by Director and Writer, Valentina Zagaria. The company formed around the project and the roots of Zagaria’s research. In September 2013 these roots took hold as the company lived on Lampedusa to research and create during a month’s residency. We observed and interviewed, talked, ate, mourned and sunbathed, immersing ourselves in the island and its life. We worked alongside the local municipality running workshops with young people in order to understand their crucial opinions, which are often overlooked by the media. We also worked closely with the cultural and activist group Askavusa, learning through them, local dialects, songs and myths. They also gave us an insight into the humanitarian efforts volunteered by islanders and the political struggles faced by all who, as a result of geography, are impacted.
Daily rehearsals were focused on digesting theatrically our observations and discoveries. By playing with our various languages and movement training we drew pieces of the island together and in doing so began an exploration of bigger questions of belonging, responsibility, and humanity. We presented our research through street performance and received feedback from the islanders and those passing through.
This immersive rehearsal and research period was a crucial impetus for the devising process and early experiments of processing and presenting anthropological research through theatre. Théâtre Senza returned to Paris three days before the shipwreck that put Lampedusa on the front page of newspapers worldwide. On this occasion, over 300 people died. However, thousands have died in the seas around the island over the last 20 years with minor media coverage
