Two of the UK’s leading young storytellers, Ailsa Dixon and Ffion Phillips, bring their collaboratively devised storytelling show, ‘Hear Us and Hasten’ to the Scottish Storytelling Centre this Fringe.
The charm of ‘Hear Us and Hasten‘ lies in how it sublimates its confrontation of climate fragility and anxiety into a meditative hour of storytelling magic. It begins by grounding the audience in place, and society, the two making their way to the stage whilst reporting on what they can hear, from the clinking cups of the upstairs cafe, to disembarking trains many hundreds of miles away north, and south.
It’s a sweet way to focus attentions, and to establish the Scots and Welsh identities of the two storytellers. What follows is one part storytelling relay, one part friendly competition, as the two delve into stories of the Stoor Worm, and the Afanc (a monstrous Welsh beaver). The tales are told well, with pace and an emphasis on the sacrifice of the young and innocent featured in both.
It is, Hear Us and Hasten’ suggests, critical to a functioning, sustainable society to maintain the triangle of stories, people and landscapes. Where any of the three are allowed to weaken, suffering is inevitable as people are devalued, landscapes despoiled, and the healing wisdom of folk history and stories lost. This they embody is a large barley circle set behind them, a frame for the triangle they will weave within its arc. It’s a simple, but effective piece of staging, and a prop they find inventive uses for as the show carries on.
Dixon and Phillips do sojourn into the present however, telling of their own lives, and fears, of the safe places and wildernesses of their youths seeming more fragile than ever. There’s an element of physical theatre, as each speaks with eyes closed, their bodily autonomy surrendered to the other. In doing so they make themselves vulnerable and open, their actions an intereptation of the story through another’s perception.
Now, purists will notice that neither the story of the Stoor Worm, or the Afanc are entirely as laid down by our ancestors. Though the mechanisms of each monster’s defeat remain the same, and heroes such as Assipattle, and Hu Gadarn remain, their female counterparts such as Princess Gem-de-lovely are given far more agency. The changes are made sympathetically, and sold emphatically, and within the show, make perfect sense. Where the two storytellers take their newly embellished characters thereafter may divide, but honestly it’s rather sweet.
Collaborative Director, Scottish treasure Shona Cowie has approached the show with a light touch, allowing the honesty of the production to come through unfiltered.
Most work made in the shadow of climate anxiety fail to find much optimism, so bravo to Ailsa Dixon and Ffion Phillips for finding some in their show. Goodness knows we could probably use a good deal more. Whilst both will grow in their art with time, and experience, ‘Hear Us and Hasten’ is a wonderful snapshot of who these young storytellers are now. It’s a call to cooperation and an embrace of old ways, and one that older audiences would do well to answer.
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