Storytelling revival

In The Times, Ben Hoyle reports on how storytelling is pulling in the crowds.

Edinburgh is awash with storytelling shows aimed at grown-ups this year. The Pleasance venues lead the way with Rose Reid’s mixture of folk tales and song, a mesmerising retelling of episodes from the life of St Francis of Assisi, The Odyssey and a twisted modern version of the Icarus myth.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre, on Royal Mile, starts a series of adult storytelling evenings today and this month one of the most anticipated events at the Edinburgh Book Festival is the European debut of The Moth, a New York storytelling salon that has become an American literary phenomenon, touring the US and enjoying 600,000 iTunes downloads a month.

Tomorrow the National Theatre in London begins its first adult storytelling strand with two tellers performing in a tent by the Thames each night. The Crick Crack Club has been building a storytelling audience for 20 years and its events at the Barbican and the Soho Theatre are regularly sold out.