Skip to main content

Review of Feast Of Fools Storytelling #11 - Sarah Rundle at the NN Cafe, Northampton

A bustling and rowdy crowd had gathered for the eleventh Feast Of Fools evening and it was all very apt for Sarah Rundle's telling of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

DRINK!

Our introduction to the evening once again came from Richard York and together with Elizabeth they spirited us into the past with their ye olde instruments including that wonderful herdy gurdy again. The second half even included what was described as some medieval jamming (comment copyright Mrs Blake).

However the star of the evening and the one and only teller, was Sarah Rundle. Bounding onto the stage, dressed casually, telling us little of what a night we were in for. However for over ninety minutes and the longest evening of FoF yet, we sat, as is withing her palm entranced by a lively, relevant telling of the ancient tale of Gawain.

Made into a tremendously modern tale while maintaining the flavour of its origin, we were offered broadsides into quite brilliant PowerPoint presentations, a random reference to Brian Blessed, and a rant against British Gas (a very sore point I felt from past experience?). It was a really wonderfully worded tale delivered with glorious style. Just on the right balance between the traditional telling and the more dramatic style.

Us the audience (including the incredible boisterous and noisy yokels at the back) were all invited at times to get into the act, be it...

DRINK!

or in the first half a bit of medievel singing. The audience very much got into the act and without doubt were loving every minute.

There has been much to enjoy from the year of Feast of Fools, however very possibly this was the best yet. Sarah Rundle is deceptive at first, but while we may just be having a jolly good laugh during the first half, by the time we reach the second part, the laughter and joy has become the fully belly variety. A surfeit of laughter indeed and one to certainly try to catch somewhere. Perhaps the very best way to become a fan of storytelling if you haven't encountered it before. Now please...

DRINK!


Performance reviewed: Wednesday 2nd March, 2016 at the NN Cafe, Northampton.

For more details about Sarah Rundle, visit her website at http://www.sarahrundle.co.uk/
Feast Of Fools is held on the first Wednesday of each month at the NN Cafe
Full details can be found at https://www.facebook.com/StorytellingFeast and Twitter @FOFStorytelling
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The Rambert Dance Company is the oldest such company in Britain having first performed in 1926. However, despite this, this was my first encounter with the group in my ten years of theatre-going. Coupled with this, it was also my first encounter with Peaky Blinders , having never seen the show, and only knowing a few vague things about it. My companion for the evening however was very familiar with the show, allowing some background behind the show. It turns out though,  Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders - The Redemption of Thomas Shelby needs a little more than a good bit of knowledge of the show, as despite this production having incredible style, there struggles to be a cohesive structure to the show and the storytelling. Much more than other dance shows as well. The first act does a whistle-stop tour of the first five seasons and while it is a feast on the eye, and on the ear, it gets extremely confusing at times. The second act is freestyle and drifts away from the stories tol...
Read more

Review of The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel is perhaps the perfect antidote to the troubled times we are in, harking back to when things were perhaps simpler and mass media and the press were less in your face. Not to say that bigshot Charlie Chaplin didn't make a name for himself in more than just the movies he made. This though is a warm show, filled with love. This show is based on the very real tale of the 1910 ship heading course for New York, which aboard were Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, unknown, but part of Fred Karno’s music hall troupe, and destined for different, but very major futures. Told by an Idiot's production with Theatre Royal Plymouth (and Royal & Derngate and Unity Theatre) breaks down the tale of the voyage of the SS Cairnrona with intriguingly created flashbacks of the life, generally of Charlie Chaplin. Therefore along the course of the voyage, we see Laurel's moment as understudy to Chaplin, the birth of Chaplin (brilliantly...
Read more

Review of Matthew Bourne's The Car Man at Milton Keynes Theatre

Matthew Bourne has been the accessible end of stage ballet and contemporary dance for decades now, and first imagined for the stage back in 2000, his interpretation and loose adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen , as The Car Man , is perhaps his most accessible to the general public. So, as it drives into Milton Keynes Theatre this week, is it still the masterly piece first seen 26 years ago? Luca is a man on the move; however, as he heads into Harmony, a town of 375 people, he sees a sign reading “Man Wanted” and decides to stop over to try to settle in and take some work at Dino’s Garage. After setting his eyes on the proprietor's wife, Lana, turmoil begins to infect the inhabitants of this harmonious town. The Car Man is a dazzling spectacle by Matthew Bourne and his New Adventures company, filled, as expected, with stunning dancing from the immensely dedicated and talented team of dancers. Led by Will Bozier as Luca, "The Car Man", his strength and confidence drive through h...
Read more