The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage
by The Brothers Grimm
translated by Margaret Taylor (1884)

Once upon a time, a mouse, a bird, and a sausage, entered into partnership and set up house together. For a long time all went well; they lived in great comfort, and prospered so far as to be able to add considerably to their stores. The bird’s duty was to fly daily into the wood and bring in fuel; the mouse fetched the water, and the sausage saw to the cooking.

When people are too well off they always begin to long for something new. And so it came to pass, that the bird, while out one day, met a fellow bird, to whom he boastfully expatiated on the excellence of his household arrangements. But the other bird sneered at him for being a poor simpleton, who did all the hard work, while the other two stayed at home and had a good time of it. For, when the mouse had made the fire and fetched in the water, she could retire into her little room and rest until it was time to set the table. The sausage had only to watch the pot to see that the food was properly cooked, and when it was near dinner-time, he just threw himself into the broth, or rolled in and out among the vegetables three or four times, and there they were, buttered, and salted, and ready to be served. Then, when the bird came home and had laid aside his burden, they sat down to table, and when they had finished their meal, they could sleep their fill till the following morning: and that was really a very delightful life.

Influenced by those remarks, the bird next morning refused to bring in the wood, telling the others that he had been their servant long enough, and had been a fool into the bargain, and that it was now time to make a change, and to try some other way of arranging the work. Beg and pray as the mouse and the sausage might, it was of no use; the bird remained master of the situation, and the venture had to be made. They therefore drew lots, and it fell to the sausage to bring in the wood, to the mouse to cook, and to the bird to fetch the water.

And now what happened? The sausage started in search of wood, the bird made the fire, and the mouse put on the pot, and then these two waited till the sausage returned with the fuel for the following day. But the sausage remained so long away, that they became uneasy, and the bird flew out to meet him. He had not flown far, however, when he came across a dog who, having met the sausage, had regarded him as his legitimate booty, and so seized and swallowed him. The bird complained to the dog of this bare-faced robbery, but nothing he said was of any avail, for the dog answered that he found false credentials on the sausage, and that was the reason his life had been forfeited.

He picked up the wood, and flew sadly home, and told the mouse all he had seen and heard. They were both very unhappy, but agreed to make the best of things and to remain with one another.

So now the bird set the table, and the mouse looked after the food and, wishing to prepare it in the same way as the sausage, by rolling in and out among the vegetables to salt and butter them, she jumped into the pot; but she stopped short long before she reached the bottom, having already parted not only with her skin and hair, but also with life.

Presently the bird came in and wanted to serve up the dinner, but he could nowhere see the cook. In his alarm and flurry, he threw the wood here and there about the floor, called and searched, but no cook was to be found. Then some of the wood that had been carelessly thrown down, caught fire and began to blaze. The bird hastened to fetch some water, but his pail fell into the well, and he after it, and as he was unable to recover himself, he was drowned.

Sleep tight everyone!

I am becoming a firm fan of storyteller Matthew Bellwood. Last year, I listened to him recount his own tales; but this time, the stories are all by others, each with a spooky, sinister flavour. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another performer quite like Bellwood, who makes the pure act of telling of stories – somewhere between acting and live literature – the centre of what he does. [READ MORE]

“Despite the bookish Hendricks Gin programme becoming a fixture, Brighton feels a little light on literary events this year – which is why we were delighted to spot Matthew Bellwood in the Fringe brochure READ MORE

I’ll once again be appearing at Upstairs at Three and Ten and shows are on:

Saturday 5 May at 1pm
Sunday 6 May at 1pm
Monday 7 May at 1pm

Tickets:

07800 983 290 (venue box office)
(01273) 709 709 (Dome ticket office)
(01273) 917 272 (Fringe ticket office)

www.upstairsatthreeandten.co.uk
www.brightonfestivalfringe.co.uk

Word Salad – 1st of April 2012 – Wild!
http://www.elfm.co.uk/listen-again/word-salad-1st-april/
Story starts at about 18 minutes in.

Word Salad – 8th of January 2012 – Class
http://www.elfm.co.uk/listen-again/word-salad-class-jan-8th-2012/
Story starts at 42 minutes in.

“Be Prepared”, as titles go it is fairly ambiguous. Be prepared for what? The publicity image shows Matthew Bellwood dressed as a boy-scout so I arrive, half-expecting tales of camping, tying knots and ghost stories around a campfire. Be Prepared could also be perceived as a warning. However as soon as Matthew arrives on stage it is clear that no trepidation is necessary. He is warm, a little impish and casually dressed, not a toggle in sight.

The title actually refers to one of the ten short stories that we were about to be treated to.
Through the medium of these stories we are introduced to, among other things, several boys called Paul, The Tanzanian Boat Lady, a possible paedophile and a dead goldfish. There is no single, over-riding theme though common threads including the search for love, dead animals and the power of imagination are delicately woven throughout. The stories appear to be true though no doubt embellished for the audience but Matthew is keen to authenticate, often bringing artefacts from the tales to the stage with him (though thankfully not the dead goldfish) as proof.

The first half is deliciously laugh out loud funny. We hear of Matthew’s over-active imagination and the attack of the hairy hand, his first teenage encounter with a boy surprisingly set against a back-drop of Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks, and a mushroom-inspired declaration of love. The second half, we are warned, is somewhat darker in tone. Matthew proceeds to introduce us to a parade of dead creatures, goldfish included, before reaching a sudden climax that I for one was definitely not prepared for.  It is a heart-stopping moment bringing home the brutal truth of human existence.

Overall it is a simple affair, just storyteller and his audience. Matthew does not hide behind gimmicks. And I am reminded of the distant childhood pleasure of being read to that I do not get to experience anymore. If I have any criticism it is that occasionally Matthew telegraphs his ideas with unnecessary gestures, juvenilising the telling in what is an otherwise an engaging, warm and deeply resonant evening.

Jaye Kearney
@yorkshirebint
http://everythingizinteresting.blogspot.com

I’ll also be singing a selection of traditional English ghost ballads.

The show is taking place on:

Saturday 5th May at 1pm
Sunday 6th May at 1pm
Monday 7th May at 1pm

As per last year, I’ll be performing at Upstairs at Three and Ten on Steine Street and you can buy tickets from their website at http://www.upstairsatthreeandten.co.uk/

Just a quick post to let you know that I’ll be performing my show Be Prepared at the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds on Tuesday 13^th of March.

It’s a mostly autobiographical storytelling show – ten short tales that cover everything from the Nina Simone songbook to the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, taking in such diverse subjects as how to rename your parents and why it is important for a young man to own his own eagle.

I’ve performed the show a few times now, in locations all over the world and people have said some pretty nice things about it:

“A clever, witty show – moving, enlightening and wise.” FRINGEGURU.COM

“A wordsmith whose youthful stories belie an old soul.”  THE ARGUS

“Amusing and casually chatty between tales, he leaves his audience feeling like they’ve just made a new friend.” WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Warm, witty and life-affirming, (well I think so, anyway) this practical guide to life and love will make you laugh, cry and gain a new insight into the arcane powers of Edgar Allan Poe.

The show starts at 7:45pm and tickets are priced at £9 (£7 concessions) and you can get your tickets here: www.carriageworkstheatre.org.uk

I’m really looking forward to performing the show in Leeds and it’d be great if you fancied coming along.

Hope to see you there,

Matthew

We worked together to produce a short storytelling piece, based on an aboriginal folktale from Australia, called Tidalic. Tidalic is a greedy frog, who drinks all the water in Australia. All the other animals are left with nothing to drink and they have to think of a way to make Tidalic laugh, in order to get the water to spill out of his body.

Everyone who saw the show enjoyed it a lot and thanks to the grant, we were able to provide 10 free performances plus accompanying workshops to a variety of schools and community groups.

The venues we worked with were: Inkwell, Oakwood Primary School, Little London Community Primary School, Cookridge Primary School, Garforth Library, Leeds City Museum, Beechwood Primary School, Holy Rosary Primary School, Moor Allerton Library.

During the workshops, we retold the story of Tidalic through drama and movement, made puppets using cardboard and acetates, played with torches and other light sources, made up new shadow stories and built shadow dens.  We were also able to train some volunteers to work with us on the project.

2011 was the 25^th consecutive year in which a play has been produced in the Abbey grounds and, to commemorate the anniversary, a special CD was produced containing original music written for the plays by the composer Richard Morris. All the pieces were re-recorded by members of the company (both past and present), under the direction of Paul Daniel, who is currently Principal Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth. (Flash, I know). There are beautiful vocal contributions from mezzo-soprano Sarah Richmond and Tenor Sipho Fubesi and I’m proud to say that I was asked to provide some spoken passages to run both over and in-between the tracks.

Nocturne – this is a track written to accompany a production of Henry V in 2008. The text describes the English forces waiting to fight on the eve of battle.

There’s some more information about the company and the music here: http://www.abbeyshakespeare.co.uk/ and if you’d like to hear some more, you can buy a copy of the disc for £10 + p&p from

Stretto Records
13 Hollins Road
Harrogate
HG1 2JF

For more info, please contact Richard Morris: music@abbeyshakespeare.co.uk

The chapel itself is rarely used and is currently in a state of slight disrepair. However, the lovely people at East Leeds FM have been using it as an occasional base from which broadcast. Over the past few years they’ve put on a whole variety of events – everything from music gigs to storytelling and poetry nights and there’s lots of info about the kind of work that’s gone on there on their website at: http://www.elfm.co.uk/

The station is hoping to take the chapel over as a permanent base of operations, with the chapel itself being renovated and turned into a recording studio. If they can find the rest of the funding they need this will hopefully happen sometime during the next couple of years.

Although the chapel itself is no longer a regular place of worship, the building is still used by the local community and the Women’s Fellowship still meets there every Tuesday afternoon.

I was asked to come and work with the fellowship on a radio programme that could be broadcast by ELFM and which would celebrate the life of the chapel and acknowledge the religious community based there.

To that end, I spent a number of weeks, meeting and talking with the members of the fellowship, gathering their stories and asking questions to get a feel for what that programme might be. In the end we decided that we wanted to put on a service of celebration for the work of the group, which would include the ladies’ favourite hymns and bible stories, as well as some of the material I’d been gathering.

This took place on Sunday the 13^th of November and if it’s of interest, you can have a listen on-line at:

http://www.elfm.co.uk/listen-again/seacroft-methodist-ladies-followship-service/

The ladies’ stories were read by actors and we had a congregation made up of people from the other Methodist Churches in Leeds.

It was a real honour to work with the women of the fellowship- all of whom were brilliantly open and welcoming and all of whom had such wonderful stories to tell.