Posted by David Hepworth on Thursday, February 11, 2010
Steve Bowbrick, Barb Jungr, Tony Quinlan, Marsha Shandur, host Kerry Shale, Natalie Haynes and keyboard player Simon Wallace.
We didn’t intend last night’s True Stories Told Live to follow a theme.
When Steve Bowbrick offered his story about what happened when his attempts to give his mother a humanist funeral in rural Ireland came up against the massed chanting of her Catholic relatives, we thought that was a natural. But then we talked to Marsha Shandur and she volunteered the story of the death of her Russian grandmother and so we figured that would make at least the beginnings of a theme to start the first half. We didn’t exactly know what Barb Jungr was doing because she changed her mind a bit. Then Tony Quinlan appeared and he wanted to tell the story of arranging a memorial service for his very distinguished father. At that point we thought it must be fate telling us something. Plus we knew Natalie Haynes was going to do something about Classics so at least that probably wouldn’t involve a funeral.
In the event they were all wonderful. Barb settled on a story about being given an owl in a temple in Burma and sang Leonard Cohen “Night Comes On”. Natalie managed to draw a line between Virgil and her father’s second marriage. A splendid time was had by a very packed house.
Marsha Shandur does a radio programme for XFM. She would be delighted if you followed her on Twitter. And here’s the My Space page she made for her late grandmother.
Steve Bowbrick does lots of bloggy things for the BBC and blogs in his own voice here.
Barb Jungr’s new CD “The Men I Love” is out now and includes her version of “Night Comes On”. Full details of this and her upcoming dates here.
You can find out about Tony’s company Narrate here and, if you like, read the Times obituary of his father.
Natalie Haynes isn’t doing any comedy gigs at the moment because she’s busy trying to finish her book but when she does they’ll be here.
If you want to be informed about future True Stories meets, make sure you sign up to the mailing list over there on the right.
People have asked a number of questions about TSTL, among which are:
Is there going to be a podcast?
No plans at the moment. We’re recording it just because it seems sensible but we think it’s essentially a live experience. We shot some video last night and we’ll post it here as soon as it’s been through an exhaustive editing process.
Can I attend every time?
We’d love you to but at the same time we’d like to vary the mix and we have limited room (our capacity is 80). Therefore maybe what you should do is come occasionally.
Do you have any plans to do True Stories Told Live anywhere else?
Not at the moment but if anyone’s got any ideas please get in touch – truestoriestoldlive@googlemail.com.
Could I tell a story at TSTL?
We’re believers in the fact that everybody’s got a true story in them. All you have to do is get it organised and practice it. If you’ve got an idea and you’d like to talk about it, get in touch.
Posted by David Hepworth on Thursday, February 4, 2010
I’m afraid if you haven’t already had an email confirming your name on the list then we’ve got no more room at next Wednesday’s gathering. Please register for the newsletter (down there on the right) and then you’ll get an invite to the next one. Sorry about that.
Posted by David Hepworth on Thursday, February 4, 2010
Our next event is on Wednesday, February 10th. If you’ve already signed up to the mailing list you will have had an invite. If not, please add your name to the subscriber list and we’ll invite you to the next one, which is in March.
Posted by David Hepworth on Thursday, January 14, 2010
Thanks to everyone who braved the slush to make it to last night’s True Stories Told Live at The Compass, which was our best-attended yet. It was so well-attended, in fact, that the listening throng spilled out on to the landing. They were treated to former army officer Lance Gerrard-Wright who told the story of how a date with a Bosnian interpreter led him into a Mexican stand-off and almost being arrested as a spy. Then there was Delia Ryan who came along to a previous event and felt like having a go. She described what it’s like to find out how unsuitable you are for the job of cabin crew rather late in the day. Our musical turn was the sainted MJ Hibbett who described how he played a gig in New York, culminating in a song enigmatically called “I Played A Gig In New York”. After the interval – with a brief pit stop for our compere Kerry Shale to relate what it’s like to voice a hamburger commercial for the Middle Eastern market – Jude Rogers talked about a Welsh male voice choir, her brother and Robert Plant. We finished with Danny Brainin discussing the moral issues of dining out in a former Nazi stronghold in Austria. Thanks to all. Our next ‘function’ is on February 10th at the same place. Kerry thinks our storytellers should be given a less clunky name. I favour ‘turns’. Over to you if you’ve got any ideas.
Posted by David Hepworth on Monday, January 11, 2010
Our home is the upstairs room at The Compass N1, which is on the corner of Penton Street and Chapel Market in Islington. Nearest tube stations are Angel and King’s Cross.
Posted by David Hepworth on Saturday, January 9, 2010
We seem to have more demand than we can accommodate for next Wednesday’s True Stories. If you’ve had an email reply saying that you’re on the list, please make sure you’re there by 7.15. Otherwise please make sure you’re registered on the mailing list (right) to get details of our February event. Sorry if you couldn’t get in to this one.
Posted by David Hepworth on Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Happy New Year.
Our next event takes place next Wednesday, January 13th at The Compass. Admission is free but space is limited so if you want to come please send us an email with the names.
Posted by David Hepworth on Thursday, December 10, 2009
Kate Bland, Kerry Shale and I met last night to talk about future TSTL’s. Up to now we’ve been asking people we happened to know but we want to cast our net wider all the time. Rather than people just waiting to be invited we wouldn’t mind if they put themselves forward.
Everybody’s got a story in them. Possibly a story or three. The danger is when you think you have more than three. I volunteered to do the first one at the first event back in September, thinking it would be easy to come up with something. I found it more difficult than that. I had to discard my first idea and my second, largely because when I went for a walk in the park and said them to myself they didn’t have the shape of a story that would work spoken out loud. They all relied on some piece of information that was difficult to introduce. Either that or you couldn’t tell them without giving the punchline away. They didn’t trip off the tongue. I finally decided on one about how I got a suit made because I had told it to some people at dinner parties and I could tell it held their attention, largely because it had a plot twist three-quarters of the way through.
Talking to Kate and Kerry we concluded that the stories that an audience can hold in their head have beginnings, middles and endings. The ending is the hardest bit. Obviously it helps if you’ve got the kind of delivery that people warm to but the acid test is, have you told them the kind of story that they will then go off and tell somebody else? It’s not as easy as you think but it’s not impossible either. If you think you’ve got a story that you’d like to tell at a future TSTL event, please get in touch and we’ll talk about it. Our rules are: it has to be true, it must be told without notes and it can’t be any longer than 12 minutes.
Posted by David Hepworth on Thursday, December 3, 2009
Bill Cashmore, Hannah Rosenfelder, Martin Plimmer, Kerry Shale, Luke Haines and Keggie Carew at The Compass.
They came in defiance of some foul weather to pack out the room above The Compass last night and listen to five stories, three of which had a Christmas theme running through them. The first turn was Bill Cashmore, who’d attended previous TSTLs as a member of the audience. He talked about one childhood Christmas where he’d taken to his bed rather than wear “the ill trousers”. In case we had any doubt he introduced the aforesaid netherwear as evidence. Hannah Rosenfelder recalled the unfortunate consequences of getting dressed up for Purim in Switzerland. Luke Haines told the story of being attacked by a dwarf on stage in France during a short-lived period as the Next Big Thing. There are plenty more like it in his book “Bad Times”. He also performed “Lenny Valentino”, the song he was trying to sing at the time. Compere Kerry Shale slipped in a vignette about Christmas in Winnipeg, a city which is seeking to redefine cold. Keggie Carew recounted a terrifying run-in with a backwoodsman in the wilds of Texas and Martin Plimmer relived his experience playing Santa Claus at the school fete in all its itchy detail. Thanks to them all and to everyone who came. The picture is by Charlotte Schepke. The next TSTL is on January 13th at the same place.
Posted by David Hepworth on Monday, November 30, 2009
Our next event is on Wednesday evening at The Compass. We’l be starting at 7.30 and finishing no later than 9.30. If you’ve responded to the newsletter and asked to come that’s fine. We don’t have tickets but we just need to control numbers because we only have a small room. We don’t reveal who’s talking before the night because we don’t have to and in any case the whole idea of “billing” seems inappropriate. All stories are created equal after all. If you want to know more get in touch via truestoriestoldlive@googlemail.com.
