General News
13 July, 2022
Festival collaboration earns rave reviews
EVERY community has people with a story to tell, and Terang had an opportunity to shine as part of the 2022 Warrnambool Storytelling Festival.
EVERY community has people with a story to tell, and Terang had an opportunity to shine as part of the 2022 Warrnambool Storytelling Festival.
The second annual festival had sought to expand on its inaugural year through partnership with the creative cohort at the Commercial Hotel, almost doubling its program in part thanks to the addition of eight Terang-based events.
Terang Theatre Troupe member Rosemary Knight, whose group staged a number of performances, said the opportunity to be involved in the festival was “magic”.
“We were chuffed to have been contacted to see if we were keen to join in,” she said.
“We had several things already on the burner so it was fortuitous to be incorporated in to the Warrnambool Storytelling Festival where spaces were available in the program.”
Ms Knight said the addition of the popular Writers’ Celebration and Short Story Award, which was created specifically as a Warrnambool Storytelling Festival event, served as a way for members of the Corangamite, Moyne and Warrnambool areas to “have a go and try something different”.
With the event drawing 22 entrants and a successful awards night, she said a better result could not have been written.
“The amazing thing was having people who had never done it before who responded back in saying thank you for doing it,” Ms Knight said.
“One woman could not read her piece, her husband did, because she had a very traumatic experience, had nearly died in an accident, and she had written in poetry form."
“Meeting someone like that, who has put themselves out the and has never done it before, was probably the most amazing thing.”
The winners of the short story competition were:
• First - Emily Lee-Ack, Warrnambool;
• Second - Bert Pratt, Camperdown;
• Third - Harold Eller, Terang; and
• Peoples Choice – Caitlyn Hoggan, Warrnambool.
Short Story Award chief judge Anne Gleeson, an accomplished writer and poet, said she had “loved” reading the litany of diverse entries.
“It was phenomenal to read the winning story; it was a stand-out, utterly beautiful, very poetic and well-crafted story about life and change,” she said.
“Each of the shortlisted entries had different qualities.”
As the final event in the Terang leg of the festival, Back Yard Theatre Ensemble (BYTE) took to the proverbial stage with The Twelfth of Love – Shakespeare Alive.
A free-flowing, engaging amalgamation of Shakespearean literature endowed with a modern twist, led by an all-female cast who captured the room.
“To be part of the storytelling festival, it’s great to see because there is so much arts and culture in country towns,” BYTE member Bridgett Sweeney said.
Fellow member Emma Snow agreed, commending the Warrnambool Storytelling Festival for supporting the arts in a small country town such as Terang.
“A lot of Victorian country towns have a lot of artistic culture, and that’s not often appreciated when you look at Ballarat and Warrnambool,” she said.
“We love coming to Terang. It’s so different to Melbourne; you catch eyes with someone here and they will give you a look of recognition or say hello.”
BYTE director Joachim Matschoss said he had worked with Les Cameron for years to bring performances to Terang, and admired the growth and impact of the creative efforts.
“It’s cool to have the ability to create, particularly in this art form where you can have trouble being properly supported,”he said.
“Increasing creative outlets is vitally important.”
Commercial Hotel proprietor Les Cameron thanked the Warrnambool Storytelling Festival for its interest in involving the Terang community, and expressed interest in maintaining the relationship moving forward.
“It was a good partnership; they were terrific and we tried to do as much reciprocation. It’s a good opportunity to get things going in Terang, and we were pleased with the response,”he said.
“I think it reminds us you have to do things in your own town, but it’s great if you can do things collaboratively."
“It’s definitely something we would like to be part of in future.”
The fringe events also provided an opportunity to learn more about running a program in a festival-type setting, as Mr Cameron works towards the launch of Terang’s own film and song festival later this year.
“The results of people coming from all over gave us confidence our film festival, full of five-to-ten-minute films, could get the numbers and stimulate more local people telling stories,” he said.
