Tuesday 7 October 2014

Adventures at Abriachan

Adventures at Abriachan

25th and 26th September 2014


a two day workshop drawing inspiration from woods of Abriachan Forest Trust to give us poems, stories, puppets and plays….
workshops began with long scribble-sheets of ideas

workshops began with long scribbly drawings, sharing ideas, looking out of windows and speculating wildly as people arrived.
scribbles became pages in our Old Book of Abriachan

first draft, meet the actual maiden below


The woods gave us  characters to play with, strange artefacts to discuss, goblin camps with troll-snot on sticks* to enjoy, smoke signals to send




Deep in the woods, 1
Deep in the woods,
The wind whispered through the branches,
Speaking in quiet airy voices,
Voices sounding like waves on the sea.
The treetops creaked like sailing ships.

Waiting.
Watching,
Always watching
For sea eagles,
Always watching,
Always waiting.

Distant voices?
Distant laughter?
Children having fun?
Over where?
Over there!
Where?

Don’t go!
a little old house where a little old man sits


Deep in the woods, 2
Beyond the path,
Beyond the pond,
There is an old, old house,
Where a lonely old man sits,
Knitting his beard into socks,
A beard so big he carries it in a bag,
Too old to use the stairs,
Too crumbly to use the ladders,
He zip wires up and zip wires down
When he goes shopping 
For shrimps in Drumnadrochit

Stories and poems grew out of moments, notes and pictures. Unexpected characters grew under our fingers


a poem written as pictures
a rather lovely storyboard


3. Not nasty, just lonely

An old witch lives
In a house made of branches and bracken,
On a beach beside a burn,
Brewing bubbling potions
In a big, iron cauldron

But lonely old man
Met lonely old woman
And they went out for a romantic meal

Goblin Girl, 1...

... and her friend, Goblin Girl 2


Day 1 produced small puppets and instant plays while on Day 2 we took time to make more complicated puppets and build more involved stories, inviting parents, carers and stray passersby to join us for final performances in the Textural Maze



a dramatic moment

3 warriors on a quest for the red ribbon that will stop wars
(they also found an emergency caterpillar)

Goblin Girls out adventuring

a rapt audience


* less educated people call it marshmallow


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