Preview: Tales in the Attic, Wardrobe Theatre

Storytelling is on the menu at the Wardrobe later this month – with family fare by day, and darker, more adult stuff by night. Steve Wright finds a place by the campfire

Bristol’s Open Attic Company are taking over the Wardrobe Theatre later this month for five days of storytelling for all ages.

Hang on – all ages? Open Attic’s brilliant idea is to present a show of family storytelling during the daytime, and an adults-only version in the dark watches of the evening. The company have gathered an impressive team of storytellers, performers and musicians to host a series of brand new stories that promises to take audiences to another world, the far future, the distant past – or just last week.

“The daytime Family Friendly stories will be fun, exciting and suitable for everyone while the evening Not So Family Friendly tales may feature darker content, aimed at an older audience,” explains Open Attic’s co-director Adam Blake. “There will literally be something for everyone!”

“There’s a whole host of writers, performers and musicians working on the shows, with everyone supporting each other in expanding their skills and creating storytelling pieces together,” Adam continues. “We also have people who have worked in clowning, fooling, puppetry and improvisation as well as directors, dramaturgs and theatre devisers.”

Writers include Steph Kempson, who runs the Wardrobe’s storytelling and theatre night Sharp Teeth alongside directing and performing, and Ilana Winterstein, a writer on attachment with Bristol Old Vic. Musicians include Jean Goubert (Gifford’s Circus, Ramshacklicious), Megan Brookes (Fine Chisel) and Ben Osborn (Fellswoop Theatre).

And how does the team gather together the various stories? Do you sit around a table, draw on folk tales, favourite novels, sci-fi, a funny thing that happened to you last week? “Almost exactly all of that! We all work in slightly different ways, some like to have writing time alone or some like to have a rehearsal space to run around in and play physically. But my favourite part of the process so far has been when we’ve come together as a group and shared our ideas.”

Pics: Paul Blakemore

How do the story, and the way it’s performed, mesh together? Are both of equal importance? “They’re both of equal importance, you can imagine the best story ever written but it’ll fall flat if it’s not performed well. People work in slightly different ways but I think it’s fair to say that we work on them both simultaneously. There is only so much thinking and writing you can do before you have to get up and try it out on people, and even then you will still find more and more to add into it simply by trying it out. We’ve been playing around with improvised stories too, so we may know the basic story of, say, the Three Little Pigs, but the Wolf’s role can be played with in the moment: maybe one time he’s really evil and scary, another he’s camp and fabulous.”

The week at the Wardrobe is just the beginning of a bigger project. Open Attic will continue to gather and develop stories together, making possible themed story events – Halloween Tales in the Attic, Fairy Tales in the Attic, etcetera. “We’re also working on formats so the stories can be brought to schools, libraries and festivals. And we’ll be working with Wyldword Arts who put on events in care homes around Bristol, so we can bring our stories to older people who don’t have easy access to a theatre. We aim to bring stories to everyone!”

Tales in the Attic (By Day and By Night) Wardrobe Theatre, April 18-22. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.thewardrobetheatre.com/livetheatre/tales-in-the-attic