Lady by the Sea (inspired by a Daphne du Maurier story)
Today we went to go and see the site which will soon become the Story Museum, on Pembroke Street in Oxford just off St Aldates …. it was AMAZING. the rooms were increadible; pushing through the stable doors you uncover the most increadible courtyard space, then through a door literally into the rabbit warren… Even with the paper peeling off the walls and stepping over bits of debris, the whole building was full of space and light and potential for stories to live and breathe in there, and have people to explore and revel in them. The power of the whole IDEA of stories suddenly hit me right in the heart – it is such a pure and connecting pleasure, to relay stories to each other and spark ideas and imaginations and paintings and music and dance and performance and all the facets of human emotion you could possibly think of. The picture above is of one of the paintings I have done based on a story; set design and painted images end up meeting quite a lot in my mind, outward visualisations of stories that aim to bring them out of the book leaves and into people’s actual line of site… it is a principle by which so many artist live, whether through performing, writing and visual medium. Imagine having a whole building full of such a thing? …
it strikes me that the bringing of stories to people of all ages, all areas, all backgrounds, is an essencial part of life, and one that could only bring cohension, and guenine deep felt joy. it is often said that, especially if you are working in a field as intense and often as tough as the arts, you can only do it if you really, really love and beleive in what you are working on. I believe in stories, that you never really have to grow up when it comes to imagination, and that human connection through the telling of them has a universiality that is one of the most precious things we as human beings have. It shouldn’t matter if you are not the kind of young person or adult who finds it easy to sit down and read a book, stories are so much more than that, and having spent a really eye opening afternoon with Tish Francis (the Story Museum’s co director), and I am sure that seeing this space form and grow will be quite wonderful. I could very happily spend my entire life helping bring stories to people, and I can’t wait to meet more people that are doing it now and who want to do it in the future….
