Jo Blake

BIO

Jo Blake is a performer working across the disciplines of storytelling, theatre and dance. Her dynamic, poetic performance style draws upon traditional and contemporary practices, exploring current cultural and personal questions through the lens of the mythic.

She has trained with leading practitioners in the field of storytelling (Ben Haggarty, Hugh Lupton, Abbi Patrix, Ashley Ramsden and Sue Hollingsworth), theatre (Song of the Goat, Complicite) and dance (Helen Poyner, the Tamalpa Life/Art process by Anna and Daria Halprin). She has recently completed a PhD in Storytelling Practices at the University of Chichester, and holds an MA with Distinction in Dance Theatre from Trinity Laban and a First Class BA (Hons) in Performing Arts from the University of Winchester. She was nominated for an Arts Foundation Fellowship Award for Storytelling in 2009 and was Resident Storyteller at Royal & Derngate theatre in Northampton from 2010–2013.

She continues to perform, teach and collaborate with prominent national and international institutions, including the National Trust, National Theatre and British Council, as well as established and emerging artists from diverse disciplines.

PUBLIC EVENTS

Current

October 9th 2021 - Blodeuwedd Untold + post-show discussion with Dr Martin Shaw

7:30pm at Cygnet Theatre, Exeter

The 1 hour performance will be followed by a chance to hear Jo Blake in conversation with mythologist Dr Martin Shaw exploring trickster, myth and the feminine, and an opportunity for audience Q&A.

Tickets and further info here

September 22nd - 25th 2021 - 60 Miles by Road or Rail

Royal & Derngate, Northampton

Find out more here: www.60milesbyroadorrail.co.uk.

Book tickets here

May 27th 2021 - The Goddess Lounge

Join the rebels! Climate Saving Goddess.

Online International Storytelling. Watch the trailer here!

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_78JwbpIeRPeormARA6tpdw?fbclid=IwAR17b1WLl1ZitLgV3AJrbDBbg0MvgJ1-3jGYuk_lzBzR3qKlUjGQCzxqrcg

July 13th - 17th 2020 - The Price of a Bed for the Night

Oundle International Festival

Story film in five parts, with music by Rimski & Handkerchief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A773Gax4O4

July 30th 2020 - What Do You See With Your Eye to the Keyhole?

Hosted by North London Traditional Storytelling Club

Tickets and zoom link here: https://www.facebook.com/events/608109399834585/

Previous Performances

July 31st - August 26th 2019 - Blodeuwedd Untold

Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Pleasance

For tickets and details: www.pleasance.co.uk

May 9th 2019 - Blodeuwedd Untold

Stealing Thunder StoryNights, Brigsteer, Nr Kendal

For tickets and details: www.stealingthunder.co.uk

March 15th 2019 - Blodeuwedd Untold

Teater Slava, Huddinge, Nr Stockholm, Sweden

For tickets and details: www.teater-slava.squarespace.com

September 28th 2018 - 60 Miles by Road or Rail

Royal & Derngate, Northampton

For tickets and details: www.royalandderngate.co.uk

August 25th 2018 - Blodeuwedd Untold

Oxford Storytelling Festival

For tickets and details: www.oxfordstorytellingfestival.co.uk

Works

Blodeuwedd Untold

Unearth the unwritten Blodeuwedd, the Frankenstein of flowers.

Captured in the pages of a medieval book, the ancient myth of Blodeuwedd describes a woman made out of flowers who was turned into an owl as punishment for adultery. But who was this woman before being confined to the page?

Jo Blake, international contemporary storyteller, irradiates this figure of Celtic myth through word, movement and ritual. The myth is unravelled in this radical reclamation of the untold; intertwined with personal experience and striking observations of the role of myth in our unmythic modern lives.

(Blodeuwedd: blod-ae-wuth).

Watch video here