The Storyteller’s Tool (Masterclass by Abbi Patrix)

Abbi Patrix has always been concerned with the storyteller’s relationship to his own body. For him this has been an important subject of research and experiment, and an unending source of questioning. During the workshop, emphasis will be given to the body’s place within the discipline of storytelling, and within the context of narrative, without either separating stories from their teller or the matter from its form. The aim is to consider that the storyteller’s body is the tool of his trade, and as such it is essential to study it, understand it, and to develop its potential. Our bodies support our words. They give language, sounds and movement their real dimension. When a storyteller tells his story, he is not only heard but also seen by his audience. Everything is relevant, everything is recorded, everything is a form of language. The vocabulary he uses with his body must support his story: it must be evaluated, worked on, tamed. Our concern is to start with the storyteller’s body, and to follow the path that his words will take to reach us.

MoonShadow Stories coordinated this masterclass.

About Abbi Patrix

Abbi Patrix is the Artistic Director of Compagnie du Cercle and Co-Director of Le Maison du Conte (The House of Stories). He is an acclaimed storyteller who uses the spoken word in multi-disciplinary performances and is also Co-Founder of FEST (Federation for European Storytelling). For the past twenty-five years Abbi has been dedicated to the art of storytelling in all forms and runs Le Labo (The Lab), a space for research and creation that mentors storytellers.