Performance storytelling by: Xanthe Gresham. Music by: Arash Moradi.

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'Magical.'
The Independent

Aerial artiste of the spoken word, Xanthe Gresham, dives headlong into the wild mythology of Persia to perform sections of The Shahnameh - the epic masterpiece The Book Of Kings - accompanied by the remarkable Iranian musician Arash Moradi.

Magical horses, epic heroes, and consuming passions abound in this world of romance, lust, tragedy, and war. Here fathers and sons may be strangers in battle; selfish kings move others like chess pieces across the board for their own amusement; beauty can be both a gift and a curse; and strong women break free and conquer their fate.

'She speaks like a woman spitting jewels.'
Arts Council England

'Gresham unwraps each tale like the petals of a lotus flower. At the end of the evening you leave with something beautiful created in your own mind.'
British Theatre Review

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CONTENT WARNING: the performance contains references to violence, threat, implied rape, and war, contextualised within a paradigm of mythic narrative, archetype, and metaphor.

XANTHE GRESHAM

Xanthe Gresham is a writer and international performance storyteller with a wide repertoire. Author of Goddesses And Heroines (Thames & Hudson), she has created a variety of shows celebrating the feminine divine, including Cassandra for BBC Radio 4 and The Online Goddess Lounge, funded by Arts Council England.

Xanthe has been Storyteller In Residence for Harvard University, The Blanton Museum Texas, Psychologies Magazine, The Chelsea Physic Garden, Stoke and Staffordshire Libraries and 18 Hours Hastings. She worked as a senior lecturer in drama and storytelling for the University Of East London for 17 years. As well as touring and working locally in Seaford, Sussex, Xanthe is artistic director of GuestHouse Storytellers, Newhaven, East Sussex.

Xanthe's work with the Iranian epic The Shahnameh with Arash Moradi has toured nationally and internationally with Adverse Camber Productions thanks to numerous commissions and honorariums from the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institute.

xanthegresham.co.uk

CRICK CRACK CLUB

'Mesmerising. The Crick Crack Club weaves a web of enchantment.'
Time Out London

Founded in 1987 by world-class performance storyteller and sector pioneer Ben Haggarty, today Crick Crack Club is the UK's busiest and boldest performance storytelling programmer and promoter. It creates exuberant, intelligent, wild, weird, and wonderful events in London, Bristol, Dorset, and across the UK that draw people from all walks of life into a shared experience and the stunning content of international fairy tales, folktales, myths, and epics. Featuring outstanding performance storytellers and the very best new talent, its annual public programme of shows and residencies can be found in theatres, at festivals, in castles, caves, village halls, rose gardens, and derelict warehouses.

crickcrackclub.com

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'A treasure house of humour, romance and myth.'
City Limits

★★★★☆
'Unmissable... magical performances in unique venues... chilling, mystifying, adventurous and romantic.'
Everything Theatre

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Every month, Crick Crack Club brings its wild haven of fairytale, myth and epic to the awesome red velvet surroundings of Bristol's finest independent cinema, theatre and place of happenings, The CUBE Microplex: THE place in Bristol for unusual events, performance art, spoken word and live storytelling for grown-ups.