• Appearances at the Earls Court and Milton Park festivals
• Five months of community storytelling, funded by Manchester Metropolitan University
• A support slot with Perrier award-winning comedian Milton Jones
• Bah! Humbug!- her sell-out show of Christmas stories and songs
• Storytelling on the theme of conflict resolution at the Bradford Mela
• Work with the New Wimbledon Theatre

Her work is dynamic, irreverent and defiantly un-twee. The audience are seldom passive onlookers, and could find themselves answering riddles, singing rounds, or eating exotic food.

More recently, she has become fascinated by the links between ancient folklore and modern urban myth, ever since the night she gave a lift to a lone hitchhiker and awoke next morning in the gutter minus a kidney

In 2007 Sarah formed Golden Horde Storytellers to bring together the spectacle of theatre with the intimacy of storytelling.

www.goldenhorde.co.uk

To see what services Sarah offers, go to the “What Sarah Does” page.

To book Sarah for your event, or to find out more details about where she will be performing, please email

Sarah’s storytelling for adults has been likened to stand-up comedy with a plot. She weaves complex tales, stories within stories, and unexpected twists. Her repertoire includes folk tales from Britain and Ireland, stories from the Middle East and the Silk Road, along with yarns from Finland and above the Arctic Circle.

Her shows for adults and 11+ teenagers include:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight   A knight’s journey across a wintry landscape.  He seeks certain death, but the greatest danger is unexpectedly alluring. 

Eat Me: Tales of Food and Cunning   St Wulfric gives a greedy boy a lesson, whilst Poor Tom is generous to a friend.  A magician from Toledo must outwit the Inquisition… and a beautiful woman teaches a caveman how to love - all with the aid of food.    

Lands of Mystery and Desire   Chinese and Japanese monsters, yokai, and hairy things.  Brides turn into Foxes, old ladies into ogres.  Thrill at the shenanigans of Mrs No.3, and weep at the fate of The Concubine in the Snow.

Sarah offers workshops in:

• Beginner’s storytelling: Breaking down and remaking a story, how to engage an audience, and vocal technique.
• Voice work: Nurturing your voice, breathing, projection, and how to add vocal colour.
• Narrative structure: Plot, story and narrative arc, the use and abuse of archetypes, and what makes a tale interesting.
• Using songs and stories together: Ways of integrating song, music and rhythm into performance, plus useful sources of material.

These are tailored to suit the needs and experience of the group, and are between two and six hours in duration.

Storytelling brings huge benefits to children; it can improve speaking and listening, increase vocabulary and lengthen concentration span. It can transmit positive values effortlessly and is useful for Personal, Social and Health Education. Children love being told a story; without a book there is more scope for full eye contact and interaction between class and storyteller. Good storytelling can bring history to life and open windows into other cultures. Sarah’s repertoire for children includes tales from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

This form of Japanese storytelling was originally performed by bicycling Kamishibai Men, touring the villages selling sweets. They presented picture-based stories from miniature theatres on the backs of their bicycles (Kami means paper, and shibai means drama) to attract customers. Sarah tells several of these attractive fables, including The Mouse’s Wedding, The Weaver Princess, and The Turtle and the Fisherman. They are ideal for nursery, reception, and primary age children.

Sarah also offers, along with an experienced musical director, a longer workshop for young people. Over 2-3 days the children incorporate dialogue, narration, songs and sound effects into a story. This culminates in a rich and dramatic performance to peers and parents.

To book Sarah for your event, or to find out more details about where she will be performing, please email .

Storytelling has come to be associated with reading Cinderella from a book to children, but it is much richer than that. For one thing, a storyteller relies on memory and improvisation rather than on the written word. They are always engaged with the audience, making eye contact, taking their listeners on a journey with them. Stories range from gypsy tales, urban legends and African trickster fables, to the Mahabarata, an ancient Indian epic which can take nine days to tell.

See more about what Sarah does, and how you could enjoy the experience of hosting a professional storyteller at your event or workplace.

www.festivalattheedge.org Storytelling festival held every July near Much Wenlock in Shropshire.

www.sfs.org.uk The national Society for Storytelling. The ‘Storytelling Diary’ link leads to details of special events and regular clubs throughout the UK.

www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk Based in Edinburgh, it runs excellent events and courses all over Scotland.

Please note that the content of external internet sites is not within the control of this website.

To see what services Sarah offers, go to the “What Sarah Does” page.
To book Sarah for your event, or to find out more details about where she will be performing, please email

Find out more about storytelling…

Future Work includes:

In June I’ll be helping with a family event for the Wellcome Trust - a Japanese Kamishibai workshop for childre. I’m currently rehearsing for a Science/Arts crossover event which is likely to appear at three festivals over the summer (Glade, Secret Garden Party, and Wilderness). I’ll tell a story at the Beyond the Border Festival in Wales (June 29th - July 1st) as part of the Grundtvig Programme, and a spooky story in West Norwood Cemetery on 7th July. Details soon!

Recent Performances include:

I have recently told stories as part of a Steampunk event in the tunnels under London Bridge Station, and toured my Gawain and the Green Knight show around the country. I’ve performed at the Emporium Pudding Club, and told tales for families at the Celtic Harmony camp, Great Brickendon. I was part of the Tailspinner’s pop-up storytelling in Hackney Wick last September, plus did a Storymeal at the Queensbury Deli in Willesdon Green, Lands of Mystery and Desire for the Last Tuesday Society, the life of Ignaz Semmelweis for the Wellcome’s Dirt Exhibition, and was part of the Club Mix at Festival at the Edge. I’ve performed Kamishibai tales at the Geffrye Museum, Eat Me: Tales of Food and Cunning at the Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate, open-air craziness at the Willesdon Green Wassail, and Hertfordshire Stories at St Leonard’s Bengeo. Last year included Tales in a tepee in Springfield Park, Kamishibai stories at the Wellcome Collection and to celebrate the refurbished Japanese Garden in Hammersmith Park, a Palestinian love story (Sahin and Jasmin) at the 40Winks Storynight in Stepney Green, and Tree Stories in the Wildlife Garden at the Natural History Museum.

More about Sarah Rundle…