THE Singing Bones podcaster Clare Testoni will perform a live podcast of The Snow Queen fairy tale at Stories on Stage.
Testoni is a writer, actor, and puppeteer with a strong interest in oral storytelling and the mythic in everyday life.
She is a keen collector of folk tales, ghost stories, and urban legends.
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“I’ve always loved folk tales and fairytales,” she said.
“My father ran ghost tours and was very interested in folklore and my mother grew up on the Ruth Manning Sanders fairytale collections (that I borrowed from the library and pored over).
“I love podcasts, but I found the mythology ones out there were very dismissive of fairytales, not as well researched as I like, and really quite sexist, some of them.
“So I made something I wanted to hear.”
Testoni said everyone took away a different story from a fairytale.
“To me that is a fairytale’s power, much like a work of visual art many people can have a different response or reaction to the same tale,” she said.
“I think it’s empowering to control narrative like that.
“In fairy tales everything has meaning, everyone is potentially magic – there is so much that is useful in that.
“I love going back and looking at tales and seeing how easily they can be read as queer and feminist and progressive … that when you take away the Victorian influence, and the 1950s Disney touches, these stories are not about sweet pretty princesses at all.”
Testoni will explore the history of Hans Christian Anderson’s good-versus-evil The Snow Queen at Stories on Stage and will later record the episode for her podcast listeners.
She’s also performing in Tale of Tales at the Blue Room Theatre from May 22 to June 9.
The Essentials
WHAT: Stories on Stage
WHEN: May 16 at 7pm
WHERE: Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana
COST: $15, which includes supper, and book sales and signings. Call 9467 7118.
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