Ben Haggarty

Photo: © Amanda Crowther

Biography

Ben Haggarty became a professional performance storyteller in 1981, having first worked as an 'image maker' with Welfare State International Theatre, then as a Theatre Director. He has performed all over the world, and has a working repertoire of over 350 tales for both adult and younger audiences. He is particularly interested in Eastern European Wonder tales and Bronze Age and early Iron Age epics. His repertoire includes 'Gilgamesh', numerous Irish Myths and the modern myth of 'Frankenstein'. He is a skilled improviser, performing solo, with other storytellers and with musicians. In 1985 he founded the Company of Storytellers with Hugh Lupton and Sally Pomme Clayton. From 1999-2001 he was Britain's first official 'City Storyteller' in Gloucester. Since 2001 he has been the official storyteller with Chinese-American cellist, Yo Yo Ma's 'Silk Road Ensemble.'

He has played a key role in the revival of storytelling in the UK and is a proactive advocate for storytelling in a variety of areas. As a promoter and organiser of storytelling events, he organised the first International Storytelling Festival at Battersea Arts Centre in 1985, then two further festivals at Waterman Arts Centre in 1987 and at the South Bank Centre in 1989. He also co-founded the Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival, and was artistic co-director of this festival from 1993-2005. He established the Crick Crack Club in 1987, which provides events and workshops for adult audiences.

Ben Haggarty has worked with a number of large organisations, including The Barbican, The South Bank Centre and Shakespeare's Globe, and for various literature festivals. He makes a significant contribution to community projects, to museums and galleries, and also in education, in 1987-1992 being Consulant to the Schools Curriculum Development Council National Oracy Project. His work has been featured on BBC Radio and Television, and in 2007 he was appointed Honorary Professor of Storytelling at Berlin's University of the Arts (UDK). He is the British Council's Literature Department Special Adviser in Storytelling.

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Genres (in alphabetical order)

Storytelling

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Author statement

Why do I write? I don’t! I tell – and I don’t even tell original tales. I have little concern with originating new stories as plenty of other people are doing that. At one level it’s a question of cultural sustainability, do we even know all the ‘old’ stories? Today’s ‘Cutting Edges’ are often made of cheap metals that blunt too readily and are ultimately disposable: my call is to the challenge of re-sharpening old and proven edges. My wish is to demonstrate that the stories our ancestors found worth handing on, are indeed worth handing on. The fact that people can enjoy hearing a story that can be traced back at least 5,000 years, validates its place in the contemporary arts. I’m interested in the magic of listening, the penetration of imagination, the processes of the transmission of ideas and the energy needed to make a story live and live again. Traditional storytelling celebrates cultural continuity, challenges fragmentation and calls for essential acts of recreation and renewal that are genuinely popular.

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Contact information

Agent
The Crick Crack Club
The LCIS, 5 Summit Road
Northolt
London UB5 5HJ
England
E-mail: kate@crickcrackclub.com
http://www.crickcrackclub.com

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Ben Haggarty

Ben Haggarty

Biography

Genres (in alphabetical order)

Author statement

Further reading on this site

Contact information

Related links