Storytelling with Michael Harvey

Storytelling conversation #4 with Phil Okwedy

Phil Okwedy is currently on tour with the production company Adverse Camber with his new show The Gods Are All Here. I say 'new' but this show is a lock-down baby that was a couple of years in creation. I worked with Phil on the show and this is the story about how it grew from a glint in his eye to a funded touring production. This is another fascinating insight into the moment that someone knows that an uncomfortable shift into a creative lifestyle cannot be put off any longer.

Storytelling Conversations #3 Jane Flood

A great storytelling discussion with Jane Flood, who was one of the first people I met on my storytelling journey. We talk about landscape and mythology and how they can be dynamic and recognisable parts of our lives and how they can implicate and surprise us in our own daily lives. We discuss how Jane got into storytelling and how a recognition of the potency and reality of storytelling enriches our own experience and informs how we live our lives. Jane and I will be running Story-Land -...

Storytelling Conversations #2 Shereen Saif

Award-winning, international storyteller and director Michael Harvey is in conversation with Indian-born, UAE resident, multi-disciplinary artist Shereen Saif. Shereen and Michael have been collaborating over lockdown on a Shereen's new project 'A Woman's Mind' based on the story of Ahalya from the Ramayana. In September they will work together in Dubai to put the final touches to the production and including live Indian music. A Woman's Mind is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation

Storytelling Conversation with Sharon Blackie

Sharon Blackie is a writer and teacher who is on a mission to reconnect us to our mythical past and the landscape around us with academic rigour, openness, imagination and humour. This  conversation ranges wide and includes an exploration of the Peredur/Perceval story from the Welsh and French Arthurian cannon, a good look at the Cailleach - the wild, wise and scary old woman of Irish mythology, as well as how we can use these stories and our landscapes to reconnect to each other, our creat...

Storytelling Conversations #1 with Sharon Blackie

Sharon Blackie is a writer and teacher who is on a mission to reconnect us to our mythical past and the landscape around us with academic rigour, openness, imagination and humour. This  conversation ranges wide and includes an exploration of the Peredur/Perceval story from the Welsh and French Arthurian cannon, a good look at the Cailleach - the wild, wise and scary old woman of Irish mythology, as well as how we can use these stories and our landscapes to reconnect to each other, our creat...

Dydd Mercher y Mabinogi gyda Tamar Williams

Cyfweliad ffraeth a threiddgar gyda'r storïwraig Tamar Eluned Williams www.tamarelunedwilliams.com   Mae hi'n sôn am ei thaith o'r theatr i'r chwedl a dod nôl i Gymru a'r deunydd oedd wedi bod yn rhan ohoni eirioed - y Mabinogi. Siaradon ni am rym y chwedlau arnon ni fel rhai sydd yn eu hadrodd a'r effaith ar y gynulleiddfa; natur 'carpiog' naratif y Mabinogi fel adlewyrchiad teg a deinamic y byd sydd ohoni; grym cymdeithasol chwedleua fel arf diwylliannol sydd yn gallu gwneud ei hunan yn ...

Dydd Mercher y Mabinogi gyda Dafydd Davies Hughes

Mae Dafydd wedi bod yn gyfarwydd gyda'r Mabinogi ers yn blentyn. Mae wedi crwydro'r dirwedd a dod i nabod y straeon a'u gweld nhw'n dod yn fyw wrth droedio'r tir a dod i'w nabod nhw 'trwy sodlau eu traed'.  Mae'n gweld y Mabinogi fel rhan o'n hunaniaeth fel Cymry a'r cymeriadau fel drych i ni'n hunain a'r ffordd rydym yn ymddwyn yn y byd. Wrth ymweld â'r llefydd mae'r stori yn sôn amdanynt mae bron yn amhosib teimlo mai 'yma ddigwyddodd hi'. Wrth adrodd, rhwng y storïwraig/wr a'r dirwedd a...

Dydd Mercher y Mabinogi gyda Fiona Collins

Dydd Mercher y Mabinogi gyda Guto Dafis

Trafodaeth gyda'r storïwr a'r cerddor Guto Dafis. Siaradon ni am y ffordd mae Guto wedi trin chwedl Manawydan o Drydedd Gainc y Mabinogi a sut mae'n  defnyddio y Gymraeg a'r Saesneg ochr yn ochr wrth adrodd, wedi ysbrydoli gan ei fagwraeth dwyieithog.

Reverb 5 - Healing

A story from Reverb. A father-son collaboration between Michael Harvey, storyteller and author, and bass player Fred Harvey-Love. This was a commission from the Festival at the Edge, a storytelling festival based in Shropshire in 2010 and includes stories from an international repertoire based around the theme Boys and Men. In this concluding story we return to the beginning to find out what happens at the end of Duncan Williamson's story 'The Thorn in the Kings Foot'.

Reverb 5 - Healing

A story from Reverb. A father-son collaboration between Michael Harvey, storyteller and author, and bass player Fred Harvey-Love. This was a commission from the Festival at the Edge, a storytelling festival based in Shropshire in 2010 and includes stories from an international repertoire based around the theme Boys and Men. In this concluding story we return to the beginning to find out what happens at the end of Duncan Williamson's story 'The Thorn in the Kings Foot'.

Reverb 4 - The Three Brothers' Story

Reverb 2 - The Hunter's Story

A story from Reverb. A father-son collaboration between Michael Harvey, storyteller and author, and bass player Fred Harvey-Love. This was a commission from the Festival at the Edge, a storytelling festival based in Shropshire in 2010 and includes stories from an international repertoire based around the theme Boys and Men. This story was adapted from a story in Michael Meade's collection 'Men and the Water of Life'

Reverb - Introduction

The Introduction to Reverb. A father-son collaboration between Michael Harvey, storyteller and author, and bass player Fred Harvey-Love. This was a commission from the Festival at the Edge, a storytelling festival based in Shropshire in 2010 and includes stories from an international repertoire based around the theme Boys and Men. This introductory section features a story adapted from Duncan Williamson's 'The Thorn in the King's Foot'

Reverb 3 - The Flute Player's Story

A story from Reverb. A father-son collaboration between Michael Harvey, storyteller and author, and bass player Fred Harvey-Love. This was a commission from the Festival at the Edge, a storytelling festival based in Shropshire in 2010 and includes stories from an international repertoire based around the theme Boys and Men. This story is from the Middle East and inspired by the telling of Laura Simms.

Reverb 1 - Introduction

The Introduction to Reverb. A father-son collaboration between Michael Harvey, storyteller and author, and bass player Fred Harvey-Love. This was a commission from the Festival at the Edge, a storytelling festival based in Shropshire in 2010 and includes stories from an international repertoire based around the theme Boys and Men. This introductory section features a story adapted from Duncan Williamson's 'The Thorn in the King's Foot'

Branwen 6 - Seven survivors, enchantment and two burials.

The seven survivors return to Wales. While they have been away another king has come and seized the throne. The survivors drift into a dreamworld where time stands still. The spell is broken, they return to reality and tell the story.

Branwen 5 - Treachery, Fire and War.

The Hall of Peace is opened and the Irish and Welsh assemble for a feast. Efnisien starts a fight that turns into an all out battle in which nearly everyone is killed. Bendigeidfran and the survivors return home to Wales.

Branwen 4 - A leader must make himself into a bridge.

Bendigeidfran leads his army over the sea to Ireland to save his sister, Branwen. A truce is declared and a huge feasting hall built that even Bendigeidfran, the giant king, can enter.

Branwen 3 - Branwen and the Starling

Efnisien's actions catch up with Branwen. She goes from queen to mistreated servant. She enlists the help of a starling and calls her brother, the giant Bendigeidfran, to her aid.

Branwen 2 - Efnisien's Revenge and Branwen's wedding

The giant king Bendigeidfran sees ships coming from Ireland. It's Matholwch, the king of Ireland who has an interesting proposal to unite the two families and countries. A feast on Anglesey is arranged but Efnsien, Bendigeidfran's half-brother, is not invited and he takes a bloody and cruel revenge for this insult. This causes problems between the two kings which are solved by Bendigeidfran (the king of the Island of Britain) giving Matholwch (the king of Ireland) a magical cauldron from the...

Branwen 1 - Introduction

The landscape of Wales and the parts of the country where the story takes place and an introduction to the main characters of the story.

Mabinogi Monday #10 with Angharad Wynne

Angharad Wynne is a storyteller based in South Wales. She has a particular love for the stories of the Mabinogion and has a clear and deep connection with both the landscape of the stories and the characters in them. She has made a particular study of Rhiannon from the first and third branches. She is an important figure in the contemporary cultural landscape of Wales and has played a major role in projects and institutions including the Wales Millennium Centre and Beyond the Border Interna...

Mabinogi #9 EXTRA with Tamar Williams

A few minutes of informal conversation between Michael and Tamar about the importance of the Mabinogi and the business of being a storyteller. Mutual support network for storytellers Self-sufficiency vs community The dislocation between social media and what storytelling actually is The importance of rootedness and connectedness that storytelling offers

Mabinogi Monday #9 with Tamar Williams

Tamar Williams won the national Young Storyteller of the Year  award in 2013. She has appeared at festivals such as Whitby Folk Week, Beyond  the Border International Storytelling Festival, Lakefest, In The Woods  Festival and the Birmingham Book Festival.  Tamar Williams In this interview Michael and Tamar talked about… Language, habit and identity. The strangeness of changing from one language to another The Mabinogi as Welsh language heritage told in English Bilingualism as a spontan...

Mabinogi Monday #8 with Katy Cawkwell

A conversation with Exeter based storyteller Katy Cawkwell who delved into the Mabinogi for her Festival at the Edge Commission in 2003 with her story of Rhiannon. You can order the CD of Rhiannon, as well as other stories on the shop page on her site. We talked in Bristol just before she had to go and prepare for the show Women Who Gave No F**ks with a stellar line-up of women storytellers at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. The video below is from a storytelling tour Katy did with the produ...

Mabinogi #8 EXTRA with Katy Cawkwell

We still had a few moments left before Katy had to go and prepare for her performance and I took the opportunity so show her the images of the figure on top of Carn Ingli. I had the photographs with me on my laptop and they provoked some fascinating observations. Recording in a car gives really good sound quality until a delivery lorry parks beside you. Sorry about the revving and beeping! Here’s what we talked about in the EXTRA session... Showing Katy photographs of Carn Ingli and the pr...

Mabinogi Monday #7 with Paula Crutchlow

Paula with sticks and plastic Paula Crutchlow has played a pivotal role in my development as a storyteller over the last ten or so years. We first met her as the dramaturg on the show Hunting the Giant’s Daugher and then asked her back for the show Dreaming the Night Field. Our conversation took place in the garden of the Felin Uchaf Centre on the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales. Felin Uchaf in an important place for the Dreaming the Night Field team because it was one of the places where th...

Mabinogi Monday #7 Extra with Paula Crutchlow

Luckily we had a few minutes to reflect what we had talked about after the main interview. In just six minutes we talked about… The inclusion of non ‘natural’ objects in Dreaming the Night Field Uncontrolled and harmful human intrusion into the world What we have to learn from Thomas Hardy’s granny Stories happen in the present tense The intimate connection of landscape and story

Mabinogi Monday #7 Extra with Paula Crutchlow

Luckily we had a few minutes to reflect what we had talked about after the main interview. In just six minutes we talked about… The inclusion of non ‘natural’ objects in Dreaming the Night Field Uncontrolled and harmful human intrusion into the world What we have to learn from Thomas Hardy’s granny Stories happen in the present tense The intimate connection of landscape and story

Mabinogi Monday #6 with Guto Dafis

Guto Dafis is a storyteller and musician . You can find out more about his music here and his storytelling here. Guto talks about the reasons why he is a great fan of the 3rd Branch of the Mabinogi. Structure. The relation to the 1st and 2nd branches and the Mabinogi and the challenges of getting that information into a live telling of the story so that the audience understand the backstory without suffering from information overload.  Guto is fascinated by the character of Manawydan who, ...

Mabinogi Monday #5 with Peter Stevenson

Peter Stevenson has been a major catalyst in the revival of creative interest in the Mabinogi over the last few years, particularly with the two Mabinogi based festivals he organised in Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Y Mabinogi in 2015 and Y Bumed Gainc in 2017.  It wasn’t just the artwork, storytelling and music he curated but the people as well. Visual artists, academics, storytellers, storylovers and musicians mixed, mingled and laughed in a great bubbling cauldron of  contemporary creativity. ...

Mabinogi Monday #5 EXTRA with Peter Stevenson

A lively discussion with myself and Peter riffing on many things including the following... Connecting visual imagination and literacy Complexity as richness and abundance Clarity that comes after dealing with complexity over a long time The Mabinogi and other stories as lessons for living Hard won kernel of truth that lies in the stories for us Plant Rhys Dwfn (literally 'the children of Rhys the Deep' ) aka the fairies New archeological evidence mirrors the stories

Mabinogi Monday #4 EXTRA with Naomi Wilds

Naomi turned the tables on me in this extra and started asking me questions! I wasn't expecting this and did my best to talk about... Landscape and the Mabinogi Deep listening and embodiment Inhabiting landscape and slowing down Creative Community Storytelling as film

Mabinogi Monday #4 with Naomi Wilds

I feel incredibly lucky and priveledged to have worked with producer Naomi Wilds on two Mabinogi inspired shows Hunting the Giant’s Daughter, and Dreaming the Night Field which tour with the production company Adverse Camber, a groundbreaking company that specialises in taking high quality storytelling performances, often with music as a central component, on tour nationwide and internationally. She is also the Artisitc Director of Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival. I was...

Mabinogi Monday #2 EXTRA with Cath Little

In this bonus Cath talks about the effort and graft of making these stories live again. She sees it as challenging and rewarding work and, for her, primarily a process with images. This work takes time and effort and is a re-oralisation putting these tales back in the imagination and hearts of the people, and making them real once more by telling them.

Mabinogi Monday #2 EXTRA with Cath Little

In this bonus Cath talks about the effort and graft of making these stories live again. She sees it as challenging and rewarding work and, for her, primarily a process with images. This work takes time and effort and is a re-oralisation putting these tales back in the imagination and hearts of the people, and making them real once more by telling them.

Mabinogi Monday #3 with Fiona Collins

I really enjoyed my conversation with Fiona. She was one of the first professional UK storytellers and tells with great verve, commitment and humour. She was one of the first people to complete a PhD in storytelling and is a pioneer in the field of education and storytelling and was a founder member of the brilliant and brazen Ogresses storytelling group. She has made her home in Wales and regularly tells stories from the Mabinogi to a variety of audiences in Welsh and English. She also spea...

Mabinogi Monday #2 with Cath Little

I am really pleased to have had the chance to talk to the Cardiff based storyteller Cath Little and find out more about her practice and how she gets herself into the strange material that is the Mabinogi. Cath runs the Cardiff Storytelling Circle, runs events that celebrate the turning year and is warm and generous storyteller with a great singing voice. In this interview Cath talks about… Cath frolicking with the Mari Lwyd Her connection to the infrequently told Romances of the Mabinogi...

Mabinogi Monday #1 with Dafydd Davies-Hughes

I am delighted to present a conversation I had with the storyteller and social enterprise director Dafydd Davies-Hughes who has the good fortune to live in the incomparably beautiful and myth-soaked landscape of the Llŷn Peninsula where he works as a storyteller and is the director of Menter Y Felin Uchaf.  Dafydd in action I was particularly interested in talking to Dafydd because of his close connection to landscape in the Llŷn Peninsula in North West Wales and his commitment to communit...

Mabinogi Monday Introduction - Extra

Here are my responses to questions from Jenny White of the Western Mail prior to a tour of Dreaming the Night Field (aka the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi) with the storytelling production company Adverse Camber.

Introduction to Mabinogi Monday

A brief introduction about why I wanted to start asking storyteller's why they were telling stories from the Mabinogi in this day and age and the type of questions I thought I might ask