York Festival of Storytelling with Helen M. Sant

Helen M Sant (pictured) is a local York storyteller and an organiser of the York Festival of Storytelling, which celebrates the tradition of story-telling through a diverse range of workshops and activities. I spoke to her to find out more about the event.

Bethan: What is the difference between books, drama and storytelling?
Helen M Sant: Books and plays evolved from storytelling, storytelling is the seed. Often people think ‘storytelling’ means reading aloud when actually storytelling comes in many different forms. When we say ‘storytelling’, we mean hearing something in the vocal tradition. The descendants of this are plays and books. Interaction is a very important part of storytelling. In the theatre, the lights dim and the actor shouldn’t make eye contact with the audience because it would break the escapism. Storytelling is the opposite of it, your audience engages with you. You experience the emotions of the story with them.

B: How did you get involved with the festival?
HMS: I was initially doing ghost stories over Halloween when I was asked by York City Council if I would do others that didn’t involve ghosts! I hated public speaking as a kid but I’ve always been drawn to theatre and spoken word. I had a natural aptitude for sharing these stories. I enjoy the spontaneity.

B: Why do you think we’ve lost the tradition of storytelling in England?
HMS: Edinburgh has an amazing storytelling hub. You immediately think that England has a reputation for being very stiff upper-lip, storytelling and listening to stories is all about letting go emotionally. For me, it’s really important that people can come to this festival, that they don’t have to have children or be children and everyone’s welcome.

B: This year’s theme is Story In Everything, how did you come up with that?
HMS: We touched on it at the last festival, we had medieval musicians and a male classical dancer. There is a story in everything, in many different art forms and behind why people do what they do. We’re bringing the ideas out there, making sure that all forms of ideas will be extracted.

B: What’s some good advice for budding storytellers?
HMS: If someone was interested in words and performance my advice would be in training and looking after the voice. That comes with maturity and confidence.

The York Festival of Storytelling will be held from Saturday 26th October until Sunday 27th October at the Railway Institute, York.