Traditional oral storytelling comes to Steinbach

Traditional oral storytelling has been around since humans have walked the earth. The sharing of stories was done to preserve a group’s history, to share a moral, or just for pure entertainment. Continuing this oral tradition is Scot Moir who will be sharing the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

“This oral storytelling idea is such a wonderful way to (close the gap between the storyteller and the audience) because It’s just you and them. You’re just literally telling them a story and it’s imagination doing the work and so there’s no separation between the teller and hearer. It’s this shared human experience which you can only have as a group of people getting together and so to participate in that sounded really exciting,” said Moir.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a story from the Arthurian legend which was originally a published poem written in the 14th century. It tells the tale of the Green Knight who comes to King Arthur’s castle and challenges a knight to deliver one blow and that blow will be returned one year later. Sir Gawain takes the challenge and cuts the head off the Green Knight but the knight doesn’t die. He instructs Sir Gawain that he will deliver the same blow, which puts Gawain on a quest. The story teaches about honour and keeping of one’s word.

“It’s a Christmas story. It’s funny, there’s a lot of humour but there’s also a lot of adventure, there’s a romance at the center, with this strange and mysterious magical character the Green Knight hovering around the edges,” said Moir.

“So, it’s really exciting for anybody who has ever wanted to step outside the modern world for 90 minutes and be a lord, be a lady, be a knight around the Round Table that’s what we’re hoping for – that night that they can live in that world and they can sort of live in the myth in the fairy tale again for one night at least.”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the first of a series of oral tales that Moir will share with audiences. Moir said the story is meant for adults and older teens.

Those who are interested in listening to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight can purchase tickets for $10 which can be bought at the door at the Steinbach Cultural Arts Centre. The performance will run at 7 p.m. on Dec. 6.