Is storytelling essentially the art of lying? And are men better at it than women? These are just some of the questions raised by the Scottish Storytelling Centre’s annual Tall Tales Oscar contest on World Storytelling Day, Friday 20th March, when the cream of Scotland’s storytelling talent competes to secure that coveted trophy − Oscar the Leprechaun.
A Tall Tale may be humorous, fantastic, or spine chilling. All that is required is that it stretches the audience’s credibility to breaking point – but not beyond! At the Tall Tales Oscar the audience votes for its favourite story and just as in its glitzier namesake, the evening culminates with the presentation of Oscar to the winning teller.
The 2015 Tall Tales Oscar will be hosted by last year’s winning hoodwinker Tim Porteus.
Among this year’s contestants is former winner Fiona Herbert who dethroned the male mastery of the prize in 2012 with her story of the Tramworks Troll. Can she take it out again this year with a tumultuous tale of a trip to Tir Na Nog?
After having so much fun at last year’s event, Jess Smith returns, spinning a yarn about old fashioned Charlie finding the right trade in the modern world with ‘Hearing the Call’. Anne Pitcher will weave her tale of ‘The Bogle Stone’ around you, revealing the ‘true’ story of how the strangely shaped stone mysteriously appeared.
Ken Johnston joins us from Blether TayGither, telling the tall tale of ‘The Hoarse Whisperer’, where a bemused, elderly Scottish folk singer meets legendary boyhood literary heroes at a smallish agricultural show – no animals were harmed in the making of this tale. Two worlds collide in Bob Mitchell’s grandiose story of rustic Mikey stumbling across the bombastic Turnip man who promises to make him the ‘best golf course in the world’!
Also joining in the fibbing, leg-pulling and prevarication is:
- Phyllis Davison
- James Spence
- Jackie Carothers
- Rona Barbour
- Morven Graham
Enjoy the fun and fiendishly inventive musings in one of the Centre’s annual highlights, showcasing storytelling as sheer entertainment.
Who will be the Tall Tales winner for 2015? You decide!
