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The White Bear King
Sometimes you suffer for love...
sometimes you suffer because of love.
Light a candle, wrap yourself in furs, dress in red, sip a glass of wine and snuggle up for the perfect valentine's romance! Storyteller and writer Sally Pomme Clayton and singer and composer Helen Chadwick weave together words and songs, images and sounds, to conjure the eternal quest for love. They take you on a snowy journey through a dark, Scandinavian fairytale with a polar bear and a princess, and songs drawing on poetry from Rumi to Emily Dickinson. The fairytale is set in a world of ice and snow, frost and firesides, where a princess climbs a glass mountain to set a cursed bear free, but is she brave enough to undo the terrible Troll Hag's spell? The story is intertwined with Helen’s illuminating songs, that can slow down time, bring images or emotions to life. The White Bear King evokes other worlds and the possibility of transformation though love. Magical, humorous and tinged with darkness this performance is for adults and young people aged 12 and upwards.
"Sally Pomme Clayton awakens the imagination of the audience." The Independent.
"Helen Chadwick revives the ancient art of storytelling through song…. Hers is the storyteller’s gift of enchantment."
Caduceus
Photo of Helen Chadwick by Marcelo Dischinger
White Bear King illustration by Theodor Kittelsen 1912
ONLINE SPECIAL
Story - Sally Pomme Clayton
Songs - Helen Chadwick
7.30pm - 9pm
Friday 12th February 2021
Book Tickets
Unwaged £4 Full Price £7
Donation to Artists £8 Feeling Abundant £10
Tickets will be on sale until 6.30pm on 12th Feb. For late bookings (up to 6.30pm), a Zoom link will be
emailed from wildaboutstory@gmail.com by 7pm.
The performance lasts about 65 - 70 minutes and is followed by a short Q and A with the artists.
PREVIOUS ONLINE EVENTS
Sally-Pomme Clayton
Wednesday 7th October 2020
(postponed from 9th Sept, due to family illness (not COVID)
(The performance will be followed by a Q&A with the artist)
Death and the Warrior Maiden – the Central Asian epic of Dede Korkutt
What is the one thing that will stop death? And the only thing that will stop war? Sally-Pomme Clayton brings to life a rare gem, the Turkic Epic of ‘Dede Korkut’ is known throughout Central Asia. It was written down in 14th Century Ottoman Turkey, but is still travelling the Silk Road, it’s funny, it’s fresh and full of contemporary relevance. The performance weaves together the darker tale of Storyteller Dede Korkut, with one of the tales he supposedly told, the uplifting romance of the warrior Princess.
Death is looking for Korkut, but Korkut is only sixteen years old and he runs away from Death. When Korkut finds the place where there is no death, he leaves a legacy of tales. The best tale of all is of the warrior Princess. A story of crazed desire, wild beasts and a woman warrior who will fight to the death. This performance reveals the richness of Turkic culture and the deep value of storytelling itself.
27th March 2019
What happens when magic goes wrong? Performance storyteller Sally Pomme Clayton rummages through hats and rabbits, smoke and mirrors, wands and tarot cards, searching for spells. With a top hat from a junk shop and mail-order wand, Sally Pomme casts a shimmer of stories, mixing humour with darkness, romance with horror. She conjures powerful female magicians from fragments of myth, invokes antique jokes, and summons-up a dazzling Russian fairytale. In this slight-of-hand world you can meet foolish apprentices, crazy genies, and Mistress of magic Elena the Wise. Here girls become doves, objects speak, the magician goes mad, and you can enter another world! Join her on a fairytale quest to discover what is real and what illusion, who is the apprentice and who the teacher - as she searches for real magic.
“Some people are born to entertain. It's a special kind of magic. Sally Pomme Clayton has that magic in plenty – she is a dream-weaver, a spell-binder.”
The Londonist
Sally Pomme Clayton casts a shimmer of stories in The Magician's Apprentice. This intimate and enchanting performance takes the audience into the secret world of the magician. She opens the magician's suitcase, uncovering the cultural history of the tarot card, making luscious fairytales appear, and dark memories vanish! With a song on her mandolin, and a spotted handkerchief, she shifts from humour to horror, romance to rumour.
"A richly evoked, magical story of many layers. Transported to so many times and places. A true magician of words." Bakehouse Theatre
"Mistress of Magic, Speaker of Spells. A storming show from a queen of the spoken word at the height of her powers. A mixing and mingling of worlds, of eras and time-scales, of history and fantasy, with consummate ease and the lightest of touches. A subtle meditation on where the real magic truly lies." Storyteller, Jamie Crawford