HERD – an evolving story…

We started with one story. Discussed it, tried it out, went round the houses, came back. It just didn’t quite work. So one day we set off in a different direction. We came across a story which spoke to us, which led to another, reminded us of a third, and suddenly we were using all three of them. ‘Ah yes,’ we said to ourselves, ‘We know what this is about.’ But the more we worked on the stories and the show took shape, the more we realised the stories were telling us something quite different.

Weaving together these three tales from the oral tradition, we found ourselves contemplating what it takes to find your voice. And your people. And how to hold on to them for dear life – or let them go gracefully – as the years pass.

We began with the idea that whatever story we worked with would involve horses. In fact, all three do. And those horses have led us to also consider how we find our ‘wild within’. It is so easy in the maelstrom of modern life to lose touch with our own wildness, but when our youth-obsessed world is no longer so interested in us, that is when we can find it and revel in it again.

We had the added thrill – and the funding – to work with a musician for some the show’s development and first performances. We were joined by the wonderful Paschale Straiton and the haunting sound of the saw was often to be heard behind the doors of the rehearsal room. But the sheer practicalities of getting the three of us together and synchronising diaries proved a challenge and so we have adapted the show. Still full of richness and poetry and signature interaction but now without our musician. Back to Suited Storytellers as we know and love them!

The fact that HERD has had to evolve to survive – how very appropriate – means we have been able to look at the piece again in the light of audience reaction to it, and to make it even better. All through the process of making HERD, we have been able to experiment, make mistakes, and come back stronger with a show we are proud of. And we could not have done that without Arts Council England funding, giving us the time and space to devise and rehearse. Or without the help of our wonderfully supportive audiences, who have been happy to share their opinions with us.

And the suits?

Ah yes! The suits are an important part of what we are about and not just because of our name. Wearing suits challenges pre-conceptions about storytelling and storytellers, and about us as women – and older women at that. We don’t want to conform to anyone’s expectations and the suits make it clear we mean business. It is just one of the elements we consider when creating exciting, thought-provoking, contemporary storytelling.

And this time the suits are yellow, worn with blue T-shirts, because horses only see in shades of yellow and blue.