Performance stories

Storytelling is an author's backbone, and keeping the backbone strong is healthy for all of us writers. Twelve Australian authors were put to the challenge of telling their family stories at this weekend's launch of The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas in A Gala Night of Storytelling at Melbourne Town Hall. They came on to the stage, one at a time, to address the huge audience, with varying degrees of success. Some read their stories, some told them off the cuff, others performed them as comedy or song. Some struggled with the mike in this echoey auditorium. Not all writers are great readers or speakers, as we know from writers' festivals, but here was a chance to make their stories shine.

All but two of the authors stayed behind the lectern. The two who didn't were performers before they became authors. Comedian Judith Lucy used a hand-held mike for her performance. Singer Paul Kelly brought the evening to a spine-tingling close with a story sung a capella. Several others were memorable. John Safran entertained us with a Jewish story that blended humour and pathos. Shane Maloney gave us a change of mood with his dry humour and fine sense of timing. Alex Miller kept his contribution short: a powerful vignette, a lively depiction of his father, complete with Scottish brogue. Cate Kennedy, our consummate short story writer, was intimate and spontaneous, if a little rambling, as she told a story that had a perfect narrative arc and a tight ending.

The remaining writers were David Malouf, Alexis Wright, John Marsden, Chole Hooper, Christos Tsiolkas and Tara June Winch. An author who was notable for his absence was Arnold Zable, one of Melbourne's fine storytellers.

What lessons can be learned from this night of storytelling? What do we need to remember when we tell our stories aloud? What do our listeners want? As a listener, this is what I want from a storyteller: honesty, humour, a satisfying story told with rhythm, pace and variety and a voice that is a pleasure to listen to. Just as a writer redrafts and edits and makes sure the written word is ready for the world, so a storyteller can craft and practise a piece, or improve the art of impromptu storytelling aloud before stepping in front of an audience. Get familiar with the mike, get to know your voice and how best you can use it, and try stepping out from behind the lectern to connect with your audience.

I for one, relish this return to hearing our stories told aloud, and hope this night of storytelling will be the first of many such nights where authors can gain confidence in the spoken word. Poetry has its own performance scene. Prose can follow suit.

What do you think?