Skip to main content

Review of Feast Of Fools Storytelling #8 - Open Mic at the NN Cafe, Northampton

The eighth Feast Of Fools storytelling event was an Open Mic night and for me since the very beginning these have always been the most entertaining. The guest nights have always been of huge quality, watching true masters of their art in action. However for me, variety is that spice and that is where my love of the Open Mic comes. There is always something truly different ten minutes away.

This Open Mic night was without any shadow of a doubt the best and most packed to the gills with talent with both professional and those wonderful, but not quite professional tellers in action. During the evening ten performers took to the stage and each brought something unique to the evening.

Our resident host Richard York began the evening with some torturing of an innocent animal to make sound (yes my favourite bag piping, lovely!) and he launched us into the evening with a tale involving a cat licking poo off itself and us in the audience singing in Christmas with a variety of farmyard animals. I could baa-ly believe what was happening.

Stephen Hobbs continued the Christmas theme with his rather surreal tale of Santa crashing into the jungles of Mali (?) and a journey to the land of Blighty and the cold of Southampton. Jo Blake-Cave was third up with a tale involving mice and a good bit of drink. I have extolled how impressed I am with Jo before on my blog and even in a short ten minute segment, the performance style is really rather impressive and quite captivating to experience.

Next on the bill was Sue Martin and official winner of the first bad/good joke of the night in her tale of an accident involving Santa and a camoflage skateboard. Yes that Santa Clause joke was indeed a so bad, its really quite good joke. It wouldn't win the evening though as Dave Blake was on the bill,

Next up was Clare Murphy, the first of two new faces on the night. Direct from North London I believe, although my hearing senses suggested originally somewhere else. The Christmas theme was dispensed with, and happily for me as it was only 2nd December in her tale from ancient Japan. It was one of a few on the evening of tales of a storytelling theme. This time a battle between a teller and a katana grand master. I have to say that Clare Murphy was one of the star points of the night in a very star packed evening. Her presence and movement on stage in the telling was superb and extremely funny and I hope that I get to see her again soon. Make it so!

The interval saw a very professional raffle take place where these:

become these:


The second half was opened with "Mischief! Mischief! Mischief!" as Red Phoenix told a tale of a wicked witch taking the telling of stories and poetry away from the populace. Once again it was a wonderfully dynamic performance. Following Red Phoenix was the pain of Dave Blake and his puns. It was of course not pain really, leaving me removing my glasses to wipe tears away is always a good sign and Mr Blake, like his daughter, has never ever left the audience disappointed. I can't remember what the story was about really, something about the horrors of 1947 snow and a man riding a horse I think, but oh my god was it brilliant.

Following that was the second new performer to me of the evening, Marion Leeper all the way from Cambridge and bringing us back to a less pun heavy world with a more traditional tale. As it turns out she was the perfect bridging between the two strange worlds of Dave Blake and our closing performance of the night, Lisa Shepherd and Tamsyn Payne.

I make no bones about how brilliant I think Lisa is and combined with Tamsyn, who had just made her storytelling debut a month before, we were treated to a vivid retelling of the Billy Goats Gruff. Tamsyn made a wonderfully demure Troll, while Lisa spread her talent across the three very different goats. It was all rather wonderful and downright surreal, which is just the way I like it and it magnificently closed the best Feast Of Fools yet.

The news that 2016 will suffer some potentially major changes to the Feast came as a surprise, however this group must live on as it going from strength to strength and I for one am glad that I have witnessed it grow from that relatively quiet first night into the wonders it now is. See you all next year!

Performance reviewed: Wednesday 2nd December, 2015 at the NN Cafe, Northampton.

Feast Of Fools is held on the first Wednesday of each month at the NN Cafe, Guildhall Road, however arrangements are not certain for 2016, so to keep up to date see their Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/StorytellingFeast and Twitter @FOFStorytelling


Popular posts from this blog

Review of Jesus Christ Superstar (N.M.T.C.) at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The now-legendary Jesus Christ Superstar , written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, initially struggled to find backing in 1970, so its first airing was as a concept album rather than the now mainly recognised stage show. Now, 55 years later, the legendary Northampton Musical Theatre Company, at least in Northampton, brings the show to the Royal & Derngate once again, after last performing it in 2010. The story, I suspect, needs little introduction, so I leave you to ensure you know the story before heading to the theatre to see the show. And what a show it is: this is the N.M.T.C., almost at the top of their game, assembling the cream of their group and a vast cast supporting the main players. As lead, newcomer Linden Iliffe takes on the weighty role of Jesus of Nazareth, and he is terrific in the challenging part, depicting the innocent power imbued in him and his desperation and disappointment as his life unravels amid bitter betrayal and disownment. He has a powerful voice,...

Review of The Bodyguard at Milton Keynes Theatre

The 1992 film The Bodyguard , starring Kevin Costner and marking the acting debut of singing megastar Whitney Houston, was a standard romantic thriller, greatly enhanced by Houston's presence and a cascade of big musical numbers. Surprisingly, it took twenty years to make the transition to the stage. Premiering in London in December 2012, just ten months after Houston's death, the show has since become a massive global success. Now it arrives at Milton Keynes Theatre again as part of its fourth UK tour in just thirteen years. The Bodyguard sees former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer, hired to protect an Academy Award-nominated actress and music superstar, Rachel Marron, from a stalker. Between Farmer's duties and Marron's career, something inevitably builds between the two amid music and dancing aplenty. Taking the leads on this tour are Sidonie Smith as Rachel and Adam Garcia as Frank. Smith has appeared in The Bodyguard before, as a walk-in in a p...

Review of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Milton Keynes Theatre

There have been numerous productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's groundbreaking musical since it first appeared in 1968 and opened in the West End in 1973. One might wonder if there is still room for another tour. However, judging by the packed audience in Milton Keynes Theatre for the opening night of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , much interest remains for this show. Also, with this production first seen at The London Palladium in June 2019, and with a few production elements altered, Joseph still has, after all those years, the room to change and evolve. However, the question is, does this change help or hinder the show's history? For those unfamiliar with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, it tells the story of Joseph, Jacob's favourite son, in a lighthearted and musical style that jumps between various genres. Joseph's brothers are somewhat envious of him, leading to them selling him into slavery to an Egyptian nobleman. As for ...