Telltales in May – Life Elsewhere in St Ives and Falmouth
May 24th, 2014 | Published in Frontpage
This month we had the treat of a double helping of Telltales on the theme of Life Elsewhere, starting off in sunny St Ives on Saturday in the historic setting of the Arts Club. Our kind host, Bob Devereux, gave us a welcoming introduction to the historic venue, sprinkled with the names of famous artists and writers, such as Barbara Hepworth and Virginia Woolf, who had been there before us.
Mac Dunlop opened the afternoon session with his beautifully poetic sonnets, followed by a captivating tale, The Perfect Gift, a piece originally commissoned for The Story Republic. We then heard from Marcus Williamson with an obituary telling of the peculiarly hermetic life of the art collector Cornelius Gurlitt.
Abigail Wyatt, a regular at Telltales, held us spellbound with her poem-stories of women in history, including Madame Mao. Heather Hosking combined recent travel experiences and historical research to weave an intriguing story of life elsewhere on the other side of the world in another time.
Sarah Perry and Tracy Mayes took the stage in a first for Telltales, as a duo, reading their thought-provoking and touching dialogue inspired by an email conversation of their daily work in the health sector and their lives elsewhere at other times. William Essex, also a new reader at Telltales, enthralled us with his humorous account of life on a film set amongst the Valkyries.
Mary Oliver read her four poems, in such memorable rhythm and language, recounting the life of Jim and his travels and adventures. Finally, Clare Reddaway, who joined us all the way from Bath, delighted the audience with her telling of The Modern Way, a fascinating story based on real life in the late 20s in Central Asia.
Back at our usual venue, Dolly’s in Falmouth, on Tuesday… Annabel Banks, another first time reader, held us in suspense with her story of the circus performer’s daughter, and ending with a clever twist. In the second half Sarah Harrison brought another first to Telltales, with her mellifluous lyrical poetry, accompanied by music.
Life Elsewhere in all its forms and interpretations showed how Telltales can motivate, showcase and, most of all we hope, inspire writers of all genres to make words flow from their pens and their keyboards.