| WOSAS : F681 |
WOSAS/CD221/track4 R722.wav |
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Balder the Beautiful
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| a Norse Mythology story | |
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| Sound recording, story; Balder the Beautiful, from Norse mythology, told by Ben Haggarty, a member of The West London Storytelling Unit, at the eighth West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight, at Common Stock Theatre, Hammersmith, London, 18th December 1983 | |
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| Story told by Ben Haggarty. Odin hears a prophecy of the death of his son, Balder the Beautiful. Frigg, Balder's mother makes all the gods, all the humans and all the elements of the world promise that they will not hurt Balder, and Balder becomes immune to the danger of death. Disguised, Loki finds out from Frigg that the only plant she did not make promise not to hurt Balder was the mistletoe. Loki finds the mistletoe plant, and sharpens an arrow from it. He then helps Blind Hodder to kill Balder with the arrow of mistletoe. The Queen of the Dead agrees to return Balder if the whole world weeps for him. Odin and Frigg send out the command, but an old hag, suspected to be Loki, refuses to weep for Balder, and so he remained in the land of the dead. | |
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| audience:- | adult; contributing storytellers |
| recording quality | |
| condition:- | fair |
| completeness:- | complete |
| duration:- | 0 hours, 10 minutes, 12 seconds |
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| The West London Storytelling Unit Clubnights or The Storytelling Unit Clubnights were begun by Ben Haggarty, TUUP and Daisy Keable in 1982 shortly after beginning to work together as the West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U). They took place on roughly a fortnightly basis during the atumn and winter months, in community centres in Acton, Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith. The clubnights were an opportunity for anyone to come and tell a story, or perform music on the condition that it had a toe-hold in tradition. The performance of original poetry and the reading of original writing was actively discouraged as there were plenty of other fora for 'new writing' elsewhere in London. In 2007 Ben Haggarty explained that the clubnight format was in part inspired by the College of Storytellers, but with the aim of doing something less bourgeois, for a younger audience and which was not dominated by Idries Shah's mission to promote his vision of Sufi storytelling. The clubnights also took inspiration from the anarchy of the London Musicians Collective clubnight events in Camden. The clubnights led Ben Haggarty to inaugurate the First UK International Storytelling Festival at Battersea Arts Centre in London in January 1985. After the 1985 festival a few further clubnights were run, before ending in 1986. The clubnights were superseded by the formation of the Company of Storytellers who pioneered the touring of adult evening shows throughout the UK, and by the formation of the Crick Crack Club in 1987, which focused on the programming and development of professional storytellers, their performance skills and their repertoire for adult audiences. | |
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| The West London Storytelling Unit (W.L.S.T.U), was founded in 1981, by members Ben Haggarty, Godfrey Duncan and Daisy Keable and based in an Afro-Caribbean Youth Centre, the Priory in Acton. The members worked together and as solo artists, telling stories mainly in school and community contexts in London. Over time performances for adults also began to be developed. In 1983 W.L.S.T.U became The Storytelling Unit with Marva Cumberbatch, Pomme Clayton, Daisy Keable. In or around 1985 Daisy Keable and Marva Cumberbatch left the Storytelling Unit, at which point Ben Haggarty rejoined and worked with Sally Pomme Clayton for a brief period before the group was disbanded. The increased interest and demand for storytelling performance for adults led to the formation of The Company of Storytellers in 1985. | |
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| storytelling:- |
storyteller: Ben Haggarty male / British / born 30.11.1958 / member of the West London Storytelling Unit |
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| origin:- | Norway Scandinavia |
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| Images of clubnight events at Common Stock Theatre | |
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| White master-copy of flyer for clubnight 6, clubnight 7 and clubnight 8. | |
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| Green version of flyer for clubnight 6, clubnight 7 and clubnight 8. | |
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| Click to enlarge images | |
| administration:- |
storyteller; promoter: Ben Haggarty storyteller: Daisy Keable; Georgiana Jerstad; Georgiana Keable storyteller; musician: TUUP; Godfrey Duncan |
| storytelling:- |
Hammersmith, London, England: Common Stock Theatre
18 Dec 1983 storytelling club: West London Storytelling Unit Clubnight storytelling club: Clubnight 8 |
| gift from:- |
storyteller: Ben Haggarty |
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