Tim Ralphs, a storyteller from the UK, believes that the facial expression, actions and the volume of voice play an important role while narrating a story as it not only helps people to understand the narrative but also creates interest among the audience
We all have listened to stories from our grandparents in our childhood. Every night, after finishing up our dinner, we used to go to our grandparents’ room and listen to the stories which they would tell us. This childhood memory of ours got refreshed when we heard the story of Tim Ralphs, a storyteller from the UK.
Tim Ralphs gained much acclaim at The Young Storyteller of the Year competition in 2007, and won a British Award for Storytelling Excellence in 2012.
Sharing his experience of storytelling session in India, he said, “The storytelling session was really good in Delhi. Around three hundred people gathered to listen to the story in the festival which is only five years old.” He added, “From past five years, the storytellers from the UK and all over the world, including India, work together and are performing before the audience and especially, in front of the school children.”
When we asked Ralphs whether he practices before his performance, he said that to keep the expressions original, the storytellers don’t practice but they do learn the stories, word by word. “It is spontaneous because then only it can be performed differently, every time, on the same story,” he said.
This was of his first trip to the country and his experience was very good but he think that his 10 day visit is really short to have an experience of the country.
When we asked him about the importance of expression while narrating the story, he replied, “Its all about all the different aspects of getting engaged in the performance by action, voice, volume and speed in which you talk and emote your facial expression.” He also told us about his further plans. “I will be running some workshops while I am here and will be looking at how the technique of storytelling will be helpful to teachers, lawyers and other professionals because in many walks of life, we need good communication skills to express our emotions,” he shared.