Mary Medlicott, Storyteller and Author - Storyworks

Storytelling Starters ~ The Crucible of Story

P1070464A castle, wherever it is, is a story in itself. When was it created? Why? By whom? Inevitably the story continues to the people who have lived there, the conflicts they may have provoked or suffered, the enmities and love affairs its silent walls may have witnessed. And so it goes on, suffering ravages of time and weather as decisions are made to extend, rebuild, refurbish or abandon until eventually, it reaches today and the people who decide to go and see it in its old age and those who have become its carers now.

Carew Castle

Carew Castle is a staggeringly beautiful creation. It has existed in one form or another since 1100 or shortly thereafter…., first as some kind of stone tower with wooden palisades, in Tudor times taking on aspects of a mansion, today almost completely floorless except for a couple of large rooms. Several of the participants who attended the storytelling training day I ran there on Thursday for Pembrokeshire Coast National Park are people who do guided tours around it. What a huge story it provides for them to tell! Architectural, archaeological, historical, social, Welsh, English, the story has so many aspects, including what visitors add. I loved what one young woman said to me about it as our training day concluded and we were walking away. ‘It’s a crucible we have here,’ she said. ‘Every day it’s different, always transforming. Whatever you put in, there’s always more. It’s always changing.’

On reflection, I think these could be very good words for describing stories and storytelling. Whatever you put into the crucible, it’s always changing, it’s never full, and for that reason it’s life-enhancing. It  leaves you with new perspectives and new questions.

The crucible

P1070466During one of our activities on Thursday – I call it a ‘memory walk’, a chance for observing afresh, then noticing what has been observed – another participant talked about a place in the castle which has never been dug out. ‘So no-one knows,’ she said, ‘what’s under there.’ This made me think of the hidden lives of all those who lived in this castle, servants and masters, husbands and wives. For instance, it made me think back to Nest, the wife of one of the castle’s creators, Gerald de Windsor, who’d borne him four children before being stolen away by a cousin, then having two more children by that cousin before being regained by her husband. Did Nest want to be stolen or even plan it as some allege? Or was she taken against her will? Nest had a very colourful life  (including becoming mistress to King Henry I). But the life raises questions to which history affords no answer.

Other participants on Thursday were Park rangers. Between them, they have many other sorts of stories – stories of animals and birds, the sea, the weather, wild flowers, the stones. All this became part of our working capital.  But meantime, what I’d been asked to address was how we can improve our engagement with audiences whatever their age or interest. It’s an excellent question though not always easy to answer. For all of us, there are bound to be times when to some extent we’re on auto-pilot, doing what we usually do, saying what we usually say. What was good about Thursday was the chance to share what there is, explore what there can be and all the while observe the commitment and creativity of those who put themselves out there to do such work. The resulting experience was one that will stay in my mind both for the questions it aroused and the pleasures of what it gave. A crucible indeed.

P.S. My photos this week are, of course, of Carew Castle which I first visited when on a day tour of Pembrokeshire sites with my class at Primary School. The whole experience has always stayed with me.

 

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