Storytelling: Fairytales for Grownups

Tonight, more storytelling - this time, back at Folklore Hoxton, tickets through Dice again. Sold out though. And again, I booked to eat at the Blues Kitchen Shoreditch.

Wow, what a day at work! They're desperate to get a release out, desperate for the documentation, and although I got it out in good time, they came back with a load of changes - not all of which I had time to do before I left for the day. 6.30am I started work today - yes, I am sleep-deprived; even though I'm in the office tomorrow, and have to get up earlier than usual, I'm still looking forward to more sleep than last night! and will be seeing to that as soon as I'm done writing this.

Even at that, I caught a bus in good time - and brilliant sunshine, although it's still not that warm - and arrived 10 minutes early for my reservation. Even though my bus stopped short, and TFL insisted that the stop I was now at was closed, even as I was getting on another bus there! No problem - the place was almost empty, at 5.50pm. Nicely, they sat me in the raised area, away from the bar, for once!

I started with some very welcome iced water - and it wasn't long before I had my usual fried chicken, with fries! They were so lacking for anything to do that two different people asked whether I wanted to order. Mind you, that didn't stop my wine arriving after my food.. Still, staff were never too far away. And for sure, it was delicious! Their chicken is divine, the presalted chips are lovely. Neither really needed the gravy that was served with them, which I didn't use. And with the wine, and a pretty quiet environment, it all made for a lovely, relaxing wind-down after a stressful day.

I might have had a dessert - or another glass of wine - but I wanted to get to the venue in time, and it's a little walk from there. It was filling up a bit as I left. I had plenty of time, so didn't hurry..

Well, I knew where I was going this time - I hadn't had time to photograph the outside last time. Or maybe it was too dark.

Funnily enough, they weren't open.. I hate it when the time on the ticket is the time the venue opens, not the time the show starts. I overheard, once inside, that it was supposed to start at 7.30, not the advertised 7. Well, that lady standing at the door was waiting to go in, too - we rang the bell, and the guy at the door, faced with two puzzled faces, said all right. So in we went, and I got a drink at their eclectic bar:

The lady checking tickets decided not to bother checking us early birds, just stamped our hands and let us in. Well, it was nice to get here early and get a good seat! Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson, the night's storyteller, was sitting to the side, and bade us welcome. I sat near the front - and lo, if I didn't have a friendly person beside me, who made friends not only with me, but the people in front of us as well! So it was a nice, convivial evening.

Ah, she's a great one for comedy, this one. No matter the subject matter, she can find the quirky angle - has a keen sense of the absurd. And she gave us a story cycle - stories within a story, the characters hearing stories themselves, into which she digressed. She's half Finnish, and I do wonder - I don't know much about Finnish mythology, but it'd be interesting to know how much of tonight's material was taken from that. Certainly, there were elements of more familiar fairytales - Rapunzel, the lady locked in an impenetrable fortress: Cinderella, the impoverished daughter whose mother has died, whose father remarries, and whose stepmother takes a dislike to her, favouring her own daughter.. but whose fortunes turn around upon attending a party thrown by the Prince, who eschews her half-sister for Cinderella!

There was more recognisable imagery, such as the apple of life, or the Devil taking the form of a blacksmith, knowing that any weapons he forges can never kill him. But never have the stories been told in a more entertaining way, Sarah-Liisa breaking the fourth wall to explain the craft to us, cantering around as if riding, and finding the joke in everything, in her down-to-earth way. Fair play to her, she had trouble with her voice and was slugging water all evening - and it got damn hot in there towards the end! But she persevered. And took the time to chat to people at the end - it would actually have been an excellent opportunity to ask about the provenance of some of that material. But I've been tired all day, and honestly didn't feel so sociable.. I headed straight home, stopping en route to buy a bottle of water; as I say, it was really hot and stuffy at the venue, and I was parched! I certainly had time to drink it before my bus deigned to come.. that, of course, is the problem with catching a bus at a terminal..

Tomorrow, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for (This is Not a) Happy Room, at The King's Head, Islington. And then I'm back to Ireland for another long weekend.. this being the weekend of Mother's Day. I should get to the cinema over the weekend - but at this stage, with the ratings as yet unavailable for a couple of films, what I'll be going to is completely up in the air! Ditto for next week in London..