About 18 months ago, True Stories Live launched in Norwich. It’s an innovative young company using anecdotal performance storytelling to galvanise and inspire communities.

I first met Lucy and Molly, the TSL crew, at Storyhouse, Chester and was persuaded to tell my true story at one of their events.

Later, I caught up with Lucy, co-founder of TSL, and asked her:

Why Story?

Story is fundamental to who we are as human beings. We’ve been sitting round fires telling stories since we lived in caves. It’s the most direct form of communication ever.

What’s been your funniest moment so far?

So many of the stories we’ve heard at our TSL events have cracked us up and reduced us to tears of laughter.  People have told us the silliest tales of mix-ups and mishaps.  One that comes to mind is a story of some missing false teeth in an NHS hospital and the efforts to restore them to the rightful owner.

What’s been your scariest moment?

Every event is scary. We don’t know what people are going to say – or even how many people are going to turn up.  But it’s scary in the right way, adrenaline producing.

What keeps you going?

Cheese platters and wine!

Where next – and what next?

We are building on what we’re doing. We want to work with more and also different groups locally and nationally.  We are going to tour again, and want to set up new TSL groups, to spread the idea about telling true stories.

Your Top Tip for storytellers?

You can’t go wrong, because it’s your story. Have a Killer first line, and stick to a structure: beginning, middle, end.  We tell stories for a purpose, so think about the underlying purpose of your story, and how it comes across.

Find out more about True Stories Live here:

https://www.truestorieslive.co.uk

Twitter: @_True_Stories

Facebook: TrueStoriesLive