Mothers Who Make Devon and Spork! present ‘Mothers on the Mic’, a series of online workshops and open mic events across June led by Mother Artists for mothers/carers/mothers to be/people who birth.

Charlotte Mooney leads an introduction to the art and craft of storytelling. Over two sessions (11 and 18 June) we will delve into this oral tradition and how we can use it to lift a story from the page and tell without script. We will look at the fundaments of story structure, how to begin to visualise and bring a story to life with spontaneity and improvisation. We will work together in a group of 8 in a playful and supportive environment. The workshop will include opportunities to perform and share stories together.

Participants will be invited to share extracts of their work in an Open Mic style sharing on Monday 29 June at 10am, 1pm or 8pm. Each sharing will be closed to workshop participants and headlined by either Hannah Silva, Charlotte Mooney, Shagufta K Iqbal or Liv Torc. Participation is optional. The event will be recorded for a podcast.

Charlotte Mooney came to storytelling through her work in circus. She is one of the Artistic Directors of Ockham’s Razor, one the the UK’s leading contemporary circus companies and has been devising, directing and performing their shows since 2004. She was always interested in how to integrate text into circus and in 2015 trained at the International School of Storytelling. This training was profoundly influential, both for her work in circus and also as she discovered a passion for the oral, improvisational craft of storytelling in its own right. Since then she has performed numerous times at Spark London, at the Tellit Festival At Hoxton Town Hall and as part of the London edition of The Moth, Grand Slam.  She has performed in two circus / autobiographical storytelling shows MES' Me, Mother and Ockham's Razor's This Time which she also co-directed. She has taught storytelling workshops in various settings from primary schools to universities and has worked as a director combining storytelling and movement in NCCA's Impulse and Even the Stones, and as a consultant for Oddly Moving's He Ain't Heavy, Charmaine Child's Power and Sophie Postlethwaite's Glastonbury Whispers. 

Cost of both workshops and open mic sharing: £10 (Funded places available)

This event is currently fully booked

Part of Mothers Who Make Devon 1 year pilot supported by Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant.