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Story Slam: The Unknown

  • The Wardrobe Theatre Old Market Assembly Bristol BS2 0DF (map)

This month's theme was voted on by YOU! And you decided you wanted to tell stories on "The Unknown". It's coming up to Halloween so we may well hear stories of spooky unknowns, times of uncertainty, trying something new or maybe just stepping out of our comfort zones.

All stories are told by volunteers from the audience. Put you name in the hat for a chance to tell your story, or just enjoy everyone else's!


The Story Slam is held on the third Sunday every month and starts at 2PM. Doors open at 1.30PM.

We are a Pay What You Want event, with a suggested contribution of £4, but this is totally not mandatory! It can be more or less than this or nothing at all. We'd way rather have you here sharing stories than at home crying about capitalism.


How it Works

1.15: STAMPING
Our events tend to fill up early, so we open the box office to start stamping people's hands for entrance from 1.15.

1:30: DOORS OPEN
Doors open and everyone is let into the theatre. If you would like to tell a story on stage, put your name in the hat! If not, just take a seat and enjoy everyone elses. 

2pm - 4.30pm : STORYTIME
We pull names from the hat at random, and whoever’s name is pulled tells us a 5 minute story from their life! We laugh, we cry, we drink, we have another one! (20 minute interval at some point in the middle of all of this).

After the slam people tend to hang around at the bar, have a drink, and chat about the stories they didn't have a chance to tell on stage. Our venue is attached to the amazing and affordable Old Market assembly, which is the perfect place for a pint or Sunday lunch!


Rules

The stories have to follow a few rules:
1. They must be *stories*! No rants, standup routines or monologues. We want a beginning, middle and end, and some change and conflict to occur. 

2. They must be told in 5 minutes.

3. They have to be true (that time that you and Kylo Ren went on a whirlwind adventure and loved and learned and cried? Not going to cut it.)

4. They need to be genuinely 1st person. You should be a major player in the story and we want to hear your perspective.

5. Preferably no notes. This is about the good ol’ fashioned art of storytelling. Tell it to us like we're round a campfire, or at a sleep over. (However you may use them feel this would be a significant barrier to sharing your story)

The rules are just there to make sure we get to hear as many awesome stories as possible. They’re not meant to be restricting, so if you’re unsure about anything just drop us a message or ask on the day.


Craft Table and Content Warnings

In the interest of making the story slam a safer and more comfortable place, we give people the option of putting content warnings before their stories. We read them out before each story and give people a chance to leave the room. If you do want to leave the main room at any time, we have a craft out table fully stocked with craft materials and usually some friendly volunteers too :D


Step Free Access

The venue has full step free access to the theatre and the stage. However, if you need to use it please let us know (via Facebook message) beforehand as we need a member of staff to open side doors etc. Also please feel free to message us if you have any questions surrounding that (or anything else!)


You can also check out our photo album for details on the step free access: https://www.facebook.com/SpeakEasyStorySlam/photos/?tab=album&album_id=583482968483519

Earlier Event: September 18
Story Slam: Passion *BSL Interpreted*
Later Event: November 20
Story Slam: Curiosity Killed the Cat