Adrian Spendlow - Storyteller

Always highly original in his work Adrian has turned his hand to storytelling. This has developed over the last couple of years during his on-growing performance work for the Jorvik Centre during their annual Viking Festival and following his tours for the Persula Foundation. Recent commissions include The River Festival in York and the Festival of Light which spans several cities.
Adrian now bases his storytelling at a regular Thursday evening event upstairs in Williams Bar in York. Where he further hones his skills and gathers tourists, friends and city residents together to be mesmerised.
As with Adrian's long experience as a performance poet, he adapts his storytelling skills to your needs. Primarily a writer, the challenge of a commission is always gladly received; as are offers of tours and travel to perform. This is after all, only one world.
Being a vibrant relevant performer Adrian draws on real experience and the depth of mythos, as a writer he makes everything new. This is the mixture that had him described by the York Literature Festival organisers as,

'Stand-up Storytelling at its best'

Storytelling with musical backing - A review by Boney Farson

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Adrian's York Venue - Williams Bar - Every Thursday

Adrian's Chats - As you know he loves a chat and we are putting together a selection of his best bits. Keep checking because this could take a while. Read on

Storytelling with musical backing - A review by Boney Farson

Thursday 26th April 2007. Williams Bar, Goodramgate, York.
I decided to go and see one of York's most popular sons Adrian Spendlow the storyteller tonight. It had been a funny day really, you know, one of those days when nothing goes the way you want it to. Everything I had done had turned to mush, no matter how hard I had tried it was one disaster after another. Now I know what you're saying, just go to bed and forget about it, it will all be alright in the morning. The trouble with that is - bad dreams, anyway, I digress. As I said I decided to go and see Adrian Spendlow perform.
Now you may think after the kind of day I'd had going out into the unknown of a throbbing City, where anything can, and often does happen, would be the last thing I needed, but you would be wrong, so very wrong. Going to see Adrian perform after you've had a bad day is the ideal remedy for a bad day at the office. Anyone who has seen Adrian perform will know what I mean, because he will take you away on an amazing journey, or even a number of amazing journeys and you wont even have to leave the comfort of your seat.
Its true what they say about Adrian, that you dont quite know what you are going to get - Lifes a box of chocolates etc, but the one thing you can be sure of is that you will be thoroughly entertained and by the end of the evening you are sure to have forgotten all the ills of the day. This particular evening Adrian was performing his standup storytelling routine, where you chose a story from a menu that you find on the table in front of you, an interesting concept that seems to work very well by immediately making the audience feel like they are part of the show. Adrian was accompanied on this night by Lacto Pastorius of Restless Natives which shows his high standing in music circles if he can get such high profile people to perform with him in these smaller venues.

And so the evening began, a story menu of wide ranging headings accompanied by an atmospheric sound arena, as well as strange expressions and vivid dynamics. We were treated to a canvas of tonal image to enhance our visualisations. The title on the story menu was Vikings, Ghosts and way back when and the menue is divided into sections with sub headings and contains over a hundred stories for the audience to pick from.
I must say the evening worked wonderfully well with Adrian giving his usual energetic performance and Lacto Pastorius adding some very atmospheric sounds.
At the end of the show when I spoke to Adrian he told me that he was working on a special soundtrack to accompany the stories for the occassions when Lacto is not available, an interesting developement, as is the news that a new DVD of Adrian's stories is on the way. It will feature Lacto Pastorius and Adrian is pleased to announce that The Restless Natives frontman Dave Shaavue will also be on it and ther will be a seciotn featuring some new material written and performed By Adrian, Lacto and Dave Shaavue, a mouthwatering prospect if you ask me. I cant wait.
Boney Farson 2007

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