Widsith & Deor Storytelling Theatre

18/08/2023

Gosh, another Long Awaited Update!

Life in France has taken over rather - predictably, as while one hears of arts companies who switch countries for gigs regularly, doing things as ecologically as one can with a big tipi theatre, a lot of large masks, lighting and kit, all overland in a big van means that we only travel to the UK for a few weeks in the summer now, this time a mere six weeks.
But renovating a barn takes time of course (pleased to say it's habitable and pretty civilised at last now!) but our sustainability mission has spiralled and so growing food takes time too. And there's still plenty left to do!

Like many storytellers, the strange wisdom of ancient and traditional folktales and fairytales sort of grows within you...until if you tell too often and too many, you too start to seek out a world of tumbledown stone dwellings and timber framed buildings, of besom brooms and real cooking cauldrons with tripods over fires, where the horses, sheep, goats, hawks and even bears in the tales are actually to be seen or sensed...And you end up growing your own enormous pumpkins in a real life Halloween scene, and genuine peasants appear blocking the road with their staves and smocks and amazing swirly horned goats...or even more bizarrely, the next time you see them, ride up in a remote mountain pass on a motorbike, with sheepdogs racing behind! So we have been drawn into (as painters have been drawn to the light to St. Ives or Provence) a land where folktale still lives and breathes and traditional and even Medieval life still in part survives and thrives! To the continual amazement of visitors. And many surreal happenings worthy of dreams or novels and cult road movie film occur!

However, it was awesome to perform at Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts again this June! Wonderful atmosphere, buzz, people, as always 🙂 . The rest of the time was taken up with many friends and family and other commitments. We return now for 'festivals, friends, family, funerals, weddings and wakes' oh and an AGM. So every time 'it's been emotional'! As well as incredibly busy.

As things get more sorted here in the Pyrénées however, the thinking caps are on for exciting plans ahead...

Meanwhile, look out for the Cartwheels Collective Crew doing fantastic craft workshops at the Beautiful Days Festival in the renowned Kids Field and hosted by the legendary MAJICAL YOUTH this weekend! At lovely Escot Park in Devon. We as two of the six founder members of the Cartwheels Collective are delighted that the Collective are now international! As the arts and crafts branch carry on the beautiful work in the UK 🙂.

Have a great rest of the summer X

14/03/2022

A LONG AWAITED UPDATE!

Well Folks, there has been an understandable hiatus due to the global pandemic over the last couple of years! Also in the meantime (not least due to Brexit meaning that we were about to lose the right to work in France, where audiences are always up for fun and shows, and are warm, rewarding and generous), we have moved our main base to France, but were planning to divide gigs between the UK and France. However the plot thickened, as we found ourselves taken up for the last year and half converting a barn into a venue down here...!
But we still return and do shows in the UK! Especially in southern England, as the ferries are all very handily placed 🙂 .

So we are delighted to confirm that we WILL again be performing at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in the legendary Tipi Field this Summer 🙂 .

We are still bookable for shows and events, but any bookings now have to fit into a timetable of which part of the year is spent in which country, so unfortunately our availability in the UK is limited. Circumstances change and as they say "stuff happens". Thanks for your understanding 🙂 .

27/08/2020

Sorry dear folks! This was was scheduled (having been in the air) not that long ago, and we committed to hosting our usual stage at Exeter Cathedral Green this Saturday, but it has, after all, understandably been cancelled. Social distance performances for smaller groups in quieter spaces are still bookable, and can still happen! And I imagine for many of the acts who were going to be performing! So please, do still, Support the Arts X

29/06/2020

We meant to update the page sooner dear people, but when the Lockdown was announced, we had left the place we were renting and just entered life in a van! As a tiny travelling theatre company, and with plans, after all our show and festival commitments, to travel performing at fetes and festivals aboard for a few months (as we have an Autumn season lined up sometimes in the South of France, so thought to build on that).
However with the pandemic and the coming of the lockdown, we found ourselves with show after show, festival after festival cancelling, venues closing, and on the road! So for a few weeks we were camped in a campsite who allowed us to stay and we were the last van they let in. After that we went WWOOFing, on the volunteer at organic farms scheme! Because of course, like many people, at such a time being out of doors and growing food seemed the best thing to do. We have been very lucky to find a placement on some beautiful land overlooking Salisbury Plain, and as a result, put on a show this Saturday! As part of a Pick Your Own open day at the farm. It was quite magical and we got such terrifically engaged, warm and lively audiences, a real treat for a performer especially as it would of course have been Glastonbury Festival week under normal circumstances. We are incredibly grateful to our hosts at Honeywood Stables for asking us to perform as part of their lovely event!

29/06/2020

Awesome short film about Glastonbury Festival Tipi Field! We are SO honoured to feature in this, and some truly amazing folks are being interviewed in it! Proud to be a part of this legendary Field :) X

05/03/2020

Thanks to everyone who graced last night's Storyclub, tales of hilarity, cunning and ethereal beauty - worth the trek there and back from our temporary base in North Cornwall! :) Plus we got to air Deor's adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story and Widsith's adaptation of Paul de Filippo's brilliant sci fi tale 'Our House'!

01/03/2020

Vagaries of FB! It has done away with a post!? However, we have been confirmed for this summer's Green Gathering festival - looking forward to it as we've not done this one before :) .

01/03/2020

We have been confirmed for this year's Beautiful Days Festival! We always enjoy doing this one, and this will be our...ninth? year there in a row!

14/02/2020

Tomorrow! At St. Anne's Priory in Barnstaple at 7.pm.

13/01/2020

Had a great gig storytelling at the really lovely community Wassail event in the absolutely beautiful and utterly charming Priory Road Park in Mount Pleasant yesterday. Amazed, as (having lived in Exeter for ages), like the adorable and historical St. Katherine's Priory last Autumn, we'd never been there before! Bran went crazy, he loved it, running about like a Springer of six, and sprinted off to show off a big branch he'd found! There was mulled apple juice & cider, a fire, Wassail song, tree planting, musical and sound instruments for all, and a wonderful warm welcoming feeling of a local community coming together to celebrate and protect a glorious communal garden and park :) . Big thanks to Ebrel Peters for asking us to come and tell apple stories :)

07/01/2020

The Dark Circus Oracle...uncanny, opulent, beautiful & bizarre...bookable for festivals, parties and other events :)
'Wow, so mysterious!'
'Magical!'
'Spooky!'
'Can I have another go?'

07/01/2020

CONFIRMED! We will be performing at Glastonbury Festival 2020 | 50th Anniversary this Summer :)

06/01/2020

Favourite show posters (designed by Widsith :) )

17/12/2019

Forgot to thank everyone for a splendid Storyclub earlier in December! 'Tis mad at the moment, commuting between Bude and Exeter currently, (and the signal here in N. Cornwall can be somewhat intermittent!) as we were meant to have a van to fulfil all our commitments with, but it appears to have been kidnapped! However, we did have a very fine time at the Steampunk Yule Ball, decorating and bringing our lighting design and sound system for the War of the Worlds / XR lounge! Thanks to everyone who hosted and came along dressed to the nines! :)

12/11/2019

Update; We are now based in N. Cornwall, only just over the border from N. Devon for the Winter, good folks! So while we are working on shows and Exeter is around an hour away, it means that Deor is currently not hosting the wonderful 'Phonic Drama Show'.

One wishes we had quality recordings of many of them. From 2015;
'Magnificent adaptation and rendition (from memory!) by Deor of Widsith & Deor Storytelling Theatre (aka Matthew Hammond) of Nennius's Historia Brittonum (828 AD-ish) - relevant, up to date, subtle, yet epic, powerful, rip roaring...Vortigern - 'let these rough Saxons leave our shores'...'men who had fled from who knows what wars'... NOW on Phonic FM 106.8 and online at www.phonic.fm/ '

Exeter’s sound alternative: on 106.8FM, a community radio station for the city and beyond

07/11/2019

What a splendid evening we had hosting last night’s Storyclub! Fabulous fables, fantastical fantasias & fiery fairytales, all added to by melodious musicianship 🙂. All this & our latest version of ‘Snow White’ was well received - thanks so much everyone!

27/10/2019

Thanks so much to Mincinglake Apple Festival for hosting us yesterday and also the DanSci Dance Studio where we did, respectively, stories with apples in, at the lovely St. Katharine's Priory and later on a Halloween set for the young dance students. 🙂 We have been so busy (what with being itinerant as well, currently, so we have to wait for steady signal to post anything for instance), that we didn't have a chance to post beforehand. Both were well attended however, and we're very happy to have been invited to do both shows. (We can tell we've been taken up with selling our base as we never posted about the wonderful Beautiful Days and our fabulous crew!!)

14/10/2019

We have finished our short French tour, and are making plans for coming shows, but bear with us folks, there's some very fluid situations at the moment, we have just given up / sold our long term base, and now all our masks, lights, etc. are in storage facilities, whilst we recalibrate. Also there's some stuff happening in London for a couple of weeks 😉. Stay tuned!