Skip to main content

Review of Feast Of Fools Storytelling #13 - Guto Dafis at the NN Cafe, Northampton

The unlucky thirteen Feast Of Fools was not to be unlucky for those in attendance as after a road trip from Cardiff, the quite brilliant Guto Dafis was to thrill the appreciative audience in attendance.

It was without doubt one of the best evenings so far for the Feast as the lyrical voice of Guto took us through an entire evening of three tales. The first half featured two tales featuring the tale of a child replaced by a devilish fairy, while the second, a perhaps even more sinister tale told of another fairy threatening "vengeance will come" on a farmer who had foolishly plowed a field of fairy rings. The second for me was the most interesting with the long drawn out tale taking through the generations cleverly and constantly inventively.

After the interval we were treated to a single much longer tale of an enchantment placed upon a kingdom removing all human life and leaving the family who oversaw it with no one to rule. Sinister at times, extremely funny at others, this was a joy from start to finish. Although a shoe revolt in of all places Hereford was unexpected as we sat listening in shoe town.

Guto offers an overly warm style of telling, much more gentle from many others as he soothes us into the stories. The almost perfect book at bedtime teller perhaps? This coupled with the quite wonderful switching between English and Welsh forms a way with words hardly bettered as the traditional Welsh people and place names emanate from him.

As if this wasn't enough we have the exceptional and gorgeously sounding use of music absorbing into the tales. The accordion not only providing the dancing music of the fairies but the turning of a spit. I haven't seen better use of music within a story to date and this alone would have made an exceptional evening without everything else combined.

So three wondrous and occasionally chilling tales told by an obvious master of the craft and a visibly very humble chap, just wanting to entertain and stir his audience. One of the very best and just simply a captivating evening.


Performance reviewed: Wednesday 4th May, 2016 at the NN Cafe, Northampton.

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,Twitter @FOFStorytelling and website at http://www.storyfeast.uk/

Popular posts from this blog

Review of Lord Of The Dance at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The stage show Lord of the Dance possibly needs little introduction to most people, as it has become a legend and now, in this touring version, subtitled rather immodestly, 25 Years of Standing Ovations, it reaches a landmark anniversary. Those that do not know of the show would probably well know its spiritual fathers Michael Flatley, and even more likely Riverdance , from which Lord of the Dance sprung with a proper spring in its step. During the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Riverdance hit the world by storm as Michael Flatley and his troop of dancers possibly presented the most famous part of Eurovision ever, certainly of the non-singing variety at least. Here, this touring show brings that same style Flatley created from traditional Irish dancing across the country once again and it is truly something special to see. The concept of the show is simply a battle between good and evil told through dance, and some captivating and stunning songs performed by Celyn Cartw...

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 ...

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...