Visiting performance storyteller, Xanthe Gresham Knight from London, pays a visit to the Scottish Storytelling Centre on Friday 30 January, to present her eighth show in the “Goddess” series.
Crossing the uncharted boundary between storytelling, one-woman show and theatre, Xanthe's unique and engrossing performance style combines mythology and playground rhyme with contemporary material and personal narrative.
The fantastic production coincides with Scottish textile artist Gillian Cooper’s exhibition – Unsung Muses (Fri Jan 30 – Sat 21 Feb) – celebrating Neolithic sun Goddesses through fabric interpretations.
Cooper and Knight are both excited about their collaboration to highlight the lives and influence of female ancestors and forgotten goddesses through performance and art, as Cooper states: "The connections between Unsung Muses and Her – Forging the lines of Brigid are fascinating. With starting points in different cultures, they come together to enable audiences to ponder on the golden goddesses of their own past."
Her - Forging the Lines of Brigid (Fri 30 Jan, 8pm) was commissioned by Glastonbury Festival for their Greenfields site. It is Xanthe Gresham Knight’s attempt to banish the patriarchal voices within her with the help of the great pagan Goddess. As she journeys through Scotland and Ireland uncovering the myths of Brigid – the White Snake, the Swan, the Goddess of fire, healing and poetry - she returns to herself. The show combines storytelling, one-woman show, stand up and performance art: "Her is about bringing our city-soaked souls back to nature!" says Xanthe.
Her is the eighth in a series of Goddess Tales funded by the Arts Council of England. They have been performed at Glastonbury Festival, the Barbican, Soho Theatre, The National, Northern Stage and The Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Unsung Muses investigates ancient goddess sculptures and how their meaning has been lost as our collective memory fades over the millennia. Using cloth as a medium, Gillian reconnects with our communal past and explores the human shape, whilst searching for the defining elements of being human. Gillian has incorporated the notion of time passing by creating outlined rather than detailed figures, almost hovering under layers of embellishment and organza; slightly obscured but never forgotten.
The figures are created using painted and hand-dyed fabrics, discarded clothes, fabric remnants, extensive machine quilting and are detailed with oil sticks.
• Her – Forging the Lines of Brigid | Fri 30 Jan | 8pm | Scottish Storytelling Centre | Tickets: http://bit.ly/1xt64zh
• Unsung Muses exhibition is at the Scottish Storytelling Centre Fri 30 – Sat 21 Feb