The Storytellers’ Club has returned to Trades Hall again for another year. A new room, a new night, but still the same array of brilliant comedians switching into storytelling mode. This year, however, there’s an added twist – theme nights.
Opening night was scary stories in “Scarytellers’ Club”, and it was an absolute cracker of a theme. After opening the show with a darkened room and Michael Jackson’s thriller, Sarah Bennetto got the show rolling with a short UFO story before bringing on James Dowdeswell to share his story of friendship with a school shooter.
The next guest, Danny McGinlay, was the real star of the show with his genuinely unsettling stories of living in a haunted St Kilda flat with Damian Clark. Danny is really a great storyteller and I don’t think even the most skeptical in the audience got through his set without feeling a little disturbed. The night then followed on with more stories from Sarah as well as Alison Bice, Maeve Higgins and Josie Long.
I was a little apprehensive at first about the move from the intimate surrounds of the Old Council Chambers to the larger Meeting Room downstairs, but having such a big dark room just added to the atmosphere. It also helped stave off the exhaustion that would often set in last year when a full Council Chambers would get short on oxygen.
The addition of themes to the Storytellers’ Club is an inspired improvement. The show flows together much better, and it really helps the performers focus on telling their stories and avoid slipping into unrelated material. The next three Fridays of the festival will have the themes of “Travel Stories”, “Family and Childhood” and “Love Stories”.
Unfortunately, due to draconian festival edicts, Storytellers’ Club isn’t meant to be using their list of festival guests in their advertising, but more information can be found at the Facebook Group
Visit the Comedy@Trades website for booking details.