The royal family is very large; it is you the audience and you are invited to come along in pyjamas for an audience with the King and a host of storytellers.
In the Kingdom of Neversleep the King and his court have a problem. They enjoy telling and listening to exciting stories so much that they simply cannot sleep. They put a call out for storytellers from far off lands to come and share a story that will send them off to slumberland. If they are successful they will be rewarded with riches. However, failure will result in beheading. The King demonstrates their predicament with a story of his own which excites the court (the audience), much to the annoyance of his ever-present nurse who thinks they should have all been tucked up in bed long ago. Successive storytellers then come to share their stories, which in turn fail to send them to sleep as they are too exciting/thrilling/energetic. The threat of beheading is narrowly avoided by the unsuccessful storyteller before another comes to try their fortune. Finally, after three or four stories have failed to have the desired effect, the nurse facilitates a brand new story, drawing on the ideas and suggestions of the audience. Whatever the story becomes we see the king and the other tellers gradually falling asleep. The audience can be encouraged to fall asleep as well, while they all get a share of the riches for the group effort of inventing a tale to get the kingdom to sleep.
This premise has already had a workshop performance at the York storytelling festival which was very well received and gave important insight into what works and areas that require development. The festival is very keen for this to be developed and become the centrepiece of the 2013 festival. If you are interested in supporting Telling Arts in developing the show then do please get in touch. Alternatively watch this space for the newly developed show’s performance dates.
Telling Arts Community Interest Company 