Bedtime Stories
27.05 – 01.06 9:30pm – 11:45pm
15 min
Online
In English
*This is a scheduled one-on-one performance. To participate, you will need access to a computer or tablet and a good internet connection. Reservations are to be booked through our box office and will include a mandatory introductory meeting. During this initial step, we will check if you are comfortable with the technology necessary for participation in this project, answer any questions that you have, and confirm the date and time for your bedtime story.
Taking advantage of international time differences, this project enables children in one country to tell bedtime stories to adults on the other side of the globe. In a series of one-on-one meetings children in Haute-Gaspésie will be telling stories to the residents of Norfolk. Following in their footsteps, children from Singapore will tell their bedtimestories to OFFTA’s festival-goers. Then, later this year, children of Norwich will be telling stories to adults in Singapore, completing this loop of sleepy exchanges.
Bedtime Stories inverts the paradigm of adults being the ones telling children stories. While engaging with the global issue of safeguarding children on the internet, this project empowers young people to understand their limits and take part in these technologies in a safe way. It also encourages cross-cultural and intergenerational exchange by providing a window into the collective aspect of oral and literary traditions all across the world.
Sweet dreams!
Joshua Sofaer (UK)
The artist Joshua Sofaer works across boundaries, borders and disciplines to develop artworks that engage with all levels of society. Working internationally, Sofaer has presented work at The Science Museum (London), SFMOMA (San Francisco) and Folkoperan (Stockholm), amongst many other venues and institutions. He is currently a Visiting Specialist in the department of Chinese Literature at National Cheng Kong University (Taiwan).
Singapour > OFFTA
The Storytelling Centre Limited is hosting the Junior Storytellers’ Mentorship, led by Kamini Ramachandran, Creative Producer of StoryFest Singapore. During this inaugural mentorship, children will get to hone their storytelling skills leading up to a digital performance offered to audiences in Canada. They will be guided in selecting and sharing stories for a livestream presentation as part of Bedtime Stories, presented at OFFTA.
Kamini Ramachandran (SG)
Kamini Ramachandran is a second-generation storyteller whose practice is influenced by her childhood growing up in the Malaysian jungles. Known for her Asian repertoire of oral tradition and site-specific storytelling in museums and galleries, she also teaches the art of storytelling in higher education art institutions. Recently her practice has expanded into producing storytelling programmes through the digital medium.
Haute-Gaspésie > Norfolk & Norwich Festival
Stéphane Maddix Albert, a chiac storyteller from Moncton, New Brunswick, explores ancient tales and rebirths them into our modern world through unconventional and unexpected twists that tickle the brains of both young and old. Collaborating with Valérie Bertrand-Lemay from Théâtre Témoin, he shares his quirky mind by creating adaptations with a dozen young people from Haute-Gaspésie. These collective stories will be shared with festival-goers of Norfolk & Norwich Festival the week before the start of the OFFTA.
Stéphane Maddix Albert + Théâtre Témoin (QC)
Stéphane Maddix Albert (Moncton, Nouveau-Brunswick) shares ancient tales in a way that opens up hearts and souls. He performs in chiac crossed with the vernacular of his adoptive Gaspesian Coast. His creative mind – fed by scrap yards, suburbia, activism, queerness, peasantry and sci-fi – sends us into colourful worlds of the casually surreal and absurdly real. It comes as no surprise that his performances are vibrant, funny, charming and arguably psychedelic.
Valérie Bertrand-Lemay is co-founder of the Théâtre Témoin, a traveling live arts company based in Haute-Gaspésie. A self-taught artist, she is a jack-of-all-trader and likes to unravel the art of storytelling. Playful by nature, her creations flirt with storytelling and the documentary form, exploring heritage and slipping into public space.
A creation by
Joshua Sofaer
With children from
Norfolk
Singapour
Haute-Gaspésie
Supported by storytelling artists
Kamini Ramachandran (SG)
Marion Leeper (UK)
Stéphane Maddix Albert (QC)
Executive Producer
Philippa Barr
Commissioned by
LA SERRE – arts vivants dans le cadre du OFFTA
A coproduction of
Norfolk &
Norwich Festival (UK)
StoryFest – International Storytelling Festival Singapore (SG)
With the support of
Conseil des arts du Canada
Arts Council England
Visual
Paloma Villarreal
Singapore
StoryFest : International Storytelling Festival Singapore
Creative producer and storytelling artist
Kamini Ramachandran
Project manager
Mruthika Priya Raman
Digital producer
Zane Lee
Project coordinator
Amali S.
Festival manager
Tabitha Surita
Haute-Gaspésie
Creation and storytelling artist
Stéphane Maddix Albert
Project manager
Théâtre Témoin
Set design
Catherine Beau-Ferron
Technical director
Moïse Marcoux-Chabot
Kinga Michalska
©Sarah Wendt, Pascal Dufaux