Rattle Tales

Rattle Tales at Brighton Fringe

sussex1 — Fri, 31 May 2013 09:08:04 +0000

Another Brighton Festival, another Rattle Tales at the Fringe. This was to be our biggest show yet, with 80 tickets sold in advance. The Brunswick was packed out and buzzing as soon as we opened the doors.

We were joined for this one by the Brighton and Hove Camera Club. Each story was illustrated by one of their photos, with the person who took the photo speaking to the audience after each story. It was fascinating to see how each photographer interpreted each story – many thanks to everyone involved.

The Stories

We kicked off with Shirley Golden’s flash piece, Curtailed. This story of a girl growing up with a tail gave everyone something to think about. Should she have it removed…or not?

Craig Melvin’s Albion was a journey around Brighton and its characters. It mixed myth and reality perfectly, breaking plenty of rules and keeping everyone engaged.

Erinna Mettler’s Carbon in its Purest Form was an emotional walk through Britain’s forgotten former mining communities, in the light of the death of a certain ex-Prime Minister. That ex-PM wasn’t named in the story: she didn’t need to be.

Cahir McDaid gave us Recorded for Posterity, about a baby with a rather unusual diet. He very cleverly introduced the idea of a zombie child slowly, although perhaps the BHCC photograph gave the game away a little. Cahir told us he hadn’t done much writing before. We certainly hope he does more.

Alice Cuninghame read On the Beach, a dystopian tale of a girl fighting to survive in a world of slums, glass cities and refugees. She does survive, but not in the way she wants to.

Mike Liardet gave us his flash piece, The Collector, about a man who collects coincidences. This brilliantly funny tale got plenty of laughs…and a few sharp intakes of breath with its unexpectedly violent ending.

Amanda Welby-Everard read Restless Legs. This tells the story of a battle with the syndrome of the same name, and its relentless effects on both body and mind.

Paul McVeigh finished the show with his hilarious monologue An Honest Man, based on the confused thoughts of a self-justifying womaniser. We all know one of those…

Want more?

Take a look at these reviews from our writers:

Shirley Golden: http://www.shirleygolden.net/site/Latest.html

Paul McVeigh: http://paulmcveigh.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/rattle-tales-at-brighton-fringe-launch.html

Laura Wilkinson: http://lauracwilkinson.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/rattling-good-tales/

Coming up…

Join Erinna Mettler and Amanda Welby-Everard on 22nd June for a beginners writing workshop. Find out more here.

Read stories from our newly published anthology out now on Kindle and in paperback.

Fringe Sold Out

sussex1 — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:51:13 +0000

Our Brighton Festival Fringe show has now sold out. This will be our biggest audience yet: thanks to all of you who have helped make that happen.

If you didn’t get a ticket this time, see you next time. We’ll have details up after the Fringe show.

Line-up for the Fringe

sussex1 — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:45:35 +0000

We had another very impressive set of submissions in for our Brighton Festival Fringe show on 23rd May. But there can only be eight winners. They are:

Shirley Golden – Curtailed
Craig Melvin – Albion
Erinna Mettler – Carbon in its Purest Form
Cahir McDaid – Recorded for Posterity
Alice Cuninghame – On the Beach
Mike Liardet – The Collector
Amanda Welby-Everard – Restless Legs
Paul McVeigh – An Honest Man

Get tickets here for just £5. And get them soon – we sold out well in advance last year. The show starts at 9pm on 23rd May at the Brunswick.

Perform with us at Brighton Festival Fringe

sussex1 — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:50:35 +0000

Want to perform your writing at the Brighton Festival Fringe? Send it to us.

We’re going back to the Fringe on 23rd May after a sell-out show last year, but we need your help. Send short stories that you’d like to read and discuss with our Fringe audience. Anything goes: funny, sad, weird, twisted…

There are just a few rules:

- Don’t submit anything until you have read the submissions page.

- Send us short stories of 1-2000 words, and flash fiction of up to 350 words.

- Only submit stories you think will work well at a live literature night, and that you’re able and happy to talk about.

The deadline is 12th April. Time to get writing!

Rattle Tales: The First Show of 2013

sussex1 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:38:13 +0000

It was a breezy, freezy night in Hove last Wednesday but the welcome was warm and the Brunswick Pub buzzed with punters taking advantage of the food and drink offers. Many of them came along to the first Rattle Tales of the season and they weren’t disappointed; the standard of the readings was among the best we’ve had.

Erinna Mettler started off the night with a flash fiction called Feathers telling how the world ends at the hands (or feathers) of depressed angels. Sky News was name-checked as the work of the devil.

Hannah Radcliffe unnerved us all with the tale of a vicar’s wife, vulnerable in a remote rectory with a new baby and an unwelcome guest. The baby monitor crackled and you could have heard a pin drop.

Back to heaven again (anyone would think the Pope had resigned or something) as Ashley Meggitt treated us to a comic tale of death by frozen meat (not horse) and Famous Last Words. Thanks to Ashley for coming all the way from Cambridge to read.

After a short interval, Rattle Tales regular Charlotte Feld enchanted with A Dress In Duck Egg Blue. A restrained and moving piece inspired by the photograph projected during her reading. Charlotte imagined a heart-breaking and ultimately up-lifting story of a mother and daughter stronger than they thought.

Keeping up the colour theme Jade Weighell made us laugh with Blue, a story of a Smartie addict. A spirited reading of a present tense monologue set at a SA meeting that left the audience wondering what happened next.

In part three, experienced rattler Katherine Doggrell took us to mars via travel agent innuendo and a sexless old man. As ever, hugely imaginative and jauntily read.

Tracy Fells re-imagined Little Red Riding Hood in Gretel and the Chocolate Wolf, leaving us with the urge for a hot chocolate.

Julie Taylor rounded off the night with the flash fiction Rhino, about a woman on the look-out for the perfect nose, first it belongs to Sophie Dahl, then an unwitting shop assistant. Aptly titled because everyone knows rhinos are the psychos of the animal kingdom.

There were lots of new faces in the audience and we hope that they enjoyed the show as much as we did. Rattle Tales had some great news earlier in the day; we have been picked by The Independent as one of the ‘i-likes’ at Brighton Fringe. The show is on May 23^rd back at The Brunswick and subs are now open.

Brunswick Tickets Selling Fast

sussex1 — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:56:08 +0000

Ticket sales for our show at the Brunswick in Hove this Wednesday 20th February are going fast. If you want to be sure of getting you and your friends in, get them here for the bargain price of £4.

The show kicks off at 8pm, so be sure to get in and get your drinks and seats before then.

Don’t forget your rattles!

All Lined Up

sussex1 — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:34:33 +0000

After plenty of careful consideration, we’ve settled on the line-up for our 20th Feburary show at the Brunswick. Expect stories of feathers, winter sun, last words, party dresses, smarties, vicars wives, edible wolves and rhinos, from:

Erinna Mettler – Feathers
Katherine Doggrell – Winter Sun
Ashley Meggitt – Famous Last Words
Charlotte Feld – A Dress in Duck Egg Blue
Jade Weighell – Blue
Hannah Radcliffe – Sanctuary
Tracy Fells – Gretel and the Chocolate Wolf
Julie Taylor – Rhino

Get your tickets here for just £4.

Bumper Brunswick Submissions

sussex1 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 12:43:26 +0000

Submissions for our show at the Brunswick on 20th February closed on Friday night. We’ve got an impressively sized crop of submissions this time – thanks goes to all the writers who sent in their work. It’s great to know how many people want to come and get involved.

If you are one of those people, we’ll be in touch next week, so keep an eye on your inbox. We’re working our way through the submissions pile now, and will have some tough decisions to make.

Buy your tickets for the show here for just £4. See you there, rattlers.

Submissions Open For Next Year

sussex1 — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:35:03 +0000

Submissions are now open for our first show of next year at The Brunswick in Hove on Feb 20th. Please send your short fiction (between 1 and 2,000 words) and flash (up to 350 words) by Feb 1st. We know it’s a long way off but we’re telling you now so you can mull it over Christmas. We’re still looking for original fiction that reads well to an audience and has a beginning, middle and end.Everyone has been a bit sad and melancholic of late so if you have a comic tale to cheer us up send it in, we’re not saying that sad and melancholic won’t get in, just that we need a bit of funny.

Please read our submissions guidelines carefully and remember that the story is going to be read aloud to an audience and needs to keep their attention.

Make sure you read our submissions page before you submit.

We look forward to reading what you’ve got!

Rattle Tales At The Brunswick

sussex1 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 12:53:10 +0000

What a fantastic night! The first Rattle Tales event at The Brunswick Pub in Hove started in much the same way as all the others, slight worries about unhelpful projectors, hosts lost in the middle of nowhere (Hove), not many people in the bar. Every time we put on a show we worry that no-one is going to turn up and every time we end up with people standing because there aren’t enough chairs. Technical problems solved, our guest authors began to arrive along with our lost host Jo Warburton and then suddenly people were queuing to get in and the room was full.

The night got off to a great start with Joe Evans’ story Pencils. Joe has read at Rattle Tales before and treated us to a sad/sweet story with fairy-tale qualities and beautiful imagery. We normally ask our authors to provide an image to be projected during their story but this time we had collaborated with photographers from Brighton & Hove Camera Club to provide the illustrations. Pencils was interpreted to stunning effect by Heather Buckley.

Amanda Welby-Everard read next; Cri De Coeur, a story about the effect of a mother’s affair on a young girl’s life, tender, poignant and honest and expertly told from the child’s point of view.

Theft by Isabel Costello got them all talking. It was, we later found out, Isabel’s debut on the spoken word scene, but you couldn’t tell. Her story was the most puzzling of the night, and prompted many questions and interpretations from the audience, including one that none of us had thought of! A man tired with his life takes a late night phone call from himself and is persuaded to leave his life behind with himself as a replacement – see I told you it was puzzling!

Katherine Doggrell finished the first half with a comic flash piece, X Marks the Spot, about leaving words of wisdom behind in a sort of X-Factor epitaph competition! Do ask not for credit – very wise indeed, I’m sure you will agree. Thankfully at a Rattle Tales gig the £4 ticket price means there is no need to. Our audience now well and truly warmed up, there was a clamour to win our anthology and then off to the bar for much needed refreshment.

Paul McVeigh kicked off the second half with Martin Campbell Is – The Incredible Invisible Boy, the very moving story of a young boy trying to escape a violent parental relationship. The audience were stunned by Paul’s heartfelt performance and it felt as if the whole room were taking a breath at once. The story was accompanied with a beautiful photograph by Paul Treadgold.

Erinna Mettler lightened the mood with Killing Stephen Hawking; the tragi-comic tale of a young chef meeting Stephen Hawking at the same time as realising his first love doesn’t want him anymore. Life, the universe and some very un-pc jokes.

Mike Liardet’s Spike, complete with melancholy photograph by Penny Bailey, told of a brave and faithful dog during World War 2, suffice to say there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Spike lay down by the fire to dream his last dream.

Brian Bell finished the proceedings with a rousing performance of his Belfast punk flash, No Future. Those Irish boys certainly know how to tell a tale.

Rattle Tales would like to thank The Brunswick for their hospitality and Brighton & Hove Camera Club for their wonderful photographic interpretations; we hope to work with you both again for our 2013 shows.

If you would like to be a part of the next Rattle Tales we have another show coming up in February, check out website and Facebook page in the New Year for submission details.