As unusual is her first name, so is the woman. In an agewhen young learners and adults have made a swift migration from the writtenword to the visual and stories have almost ceased to entertain unless they areshown as films or television serials, Xanthe is on a mission to re-kindle aninterest in tales. A lecturer in storytelling and drama at the University ofEast London, Xanthe is often on tour across the world narrating stories withenergy and an amazing performing ability from her vast repertoire of materialfrom European, Russian, Celtic, Greek, Persian, Iraqi, Mesopotamian, Afghani,South American, Egyptian, Viking, Chinese, Native American, Indian and Sufitraditions.
“Storytelling is an integral part of good parenting andforging strong bonds with one’s children without being preachy. They onlylisten when I tell them stories. Parents can get through to them via stories.Keep repeating the stories, add twists, and the more you tell, the better youget. I think stories are fun, they are playful and they help you remember,”says Xanthe. She was recently on a visit to Pune courtesy The British Library.Since 1995 Xanthe has performed in countless schools, theatres, libraries,hospitals, barges, boats, parks and woodlands. She works in long-term partnershipwith the British Museum and has developed numerous projects for the V & A,Whitechapel, Brunai and Courtauld Galleries. She held the post of Storytellerin Residence for the Chelsea Physic Garden and Stoke & StaffordshireLibraries and was storytelling educator for Tate Britain for four years.
Her live performances for family audiences include thepopular ‘Shahnameh’ or the ‘Iranian Book of Kings’ performed with musicianArash Moradi and ‘Indian Tales’ performed with storyteller Seema Anand. Greshamwishes to narrate the epic ‘Mahabharata’ to perfection some day. “I find thismythological epic fascinating. It has so many brave characters. My problem isthat I am yet to get the pronunciations of all the characters right,” saysXanthe, who has successfully morphed the grandma style of storytelling into amodern art with props, anecdotes, rhymes, music and interactive participation.
Elaborating about how she is able to hook her audience,Xanthe says that improvisation is very important in order to interact withdifferent kinds of audiences belonging to different cultural backgrounds. Thisrequires a deep study of folklore traditions and fables gleaned from across theglobe. “What is also important is to be enthusiastic about telling stories. Youcan’t do it as a kind of repetitive act. You have to feel and share theemotions of the characters and this is a form of bonding that you have to enjoywith the children or adults,” she adds.
For Xanthe, who was trained in literature and theatre,storytelling as a way of teaching happened quite by chance. “I had no ideathere was such a thing as storytelling. I was teaching, but I wasn’t doing verywell with the children. Then a professional storyteller walked in one day andit was like a magic spell had been cast. The children were rapt with attention.Even if you are learning a lot, it’s not work because it has been transformedinto stories which every child, and even adults, love to listen to, notwithstanding the influences of television, films or the internet” she says.
