Roger backstage with one of OIC Events Festival staff, Bobby and Sherry Norfolk and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo of Eth-no-Tec
What a pleasure and an honour it was to be invited to join Randel McGee, Bobby and Sherry Norfolk and Eth-no-Tec (aka Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo and Nancy Wang) to perform in the inaugural Manila International Storytelling Festival! We were joined by two local tellers, the bubbly young actor JK Anicoche and Melody Remorca, who has been telling for almost 20 years.
You can see from the logo (and the line up of international tellers) that our own Festival played a major role in getting the MISF off the ground, but the local organisers from OIC Events did a fantastic job of making the idea a reality.
Despite the prevailing perception in the Philippines that storytelling means reading aloud from a book, the Festival drew a total audience of 871 to its 4 performances, and 196 to the workshops. In performances they were treated to some wonderful examples of Asian tandem telling by Robert and Nancy , Randel’s lovable dragon Groark speaking in Tagalog, Bobby’s trademark high-powered delivery and Sherry’s vocal dexterity and comical personnification. I had the pleasure of telling the final tale to ‘bring each session home’, as Bobby put it, and sought to offer each audience some participation as well as a story mull over as they made their way home through the congested Manila traffic!
Without doubt, the Festival was an outstanding beginning. When we left, after an all-too-short (but thoroughly enjoyable) stay, the big-hearted team at OIC was already talking of coming back for more - making the MISF an annual event (Yay!) and moving it to a larger venue next year.
