Father to son

James Spence

My father was just the greatest storyteller. I never was, couldn't even tell a joke; didn't like repeating myself for one thing. I liked the words in front of me on a bit of paper, so I wouldn't muck it up. I was more a poet, with a couple of books to my name.

Well, there came a time when my Dad was getting quite forgetful. So I thought I'd better write down his stories, which I did, or they'd be forgotten. Now round about that time I was due to do a poetry reading with friends, John Murray and Tom Kane, at the Netherbow Theatre in Edinburgh. I'd decided that I was going to read some of my Dad's stories in the second half, but was kicking myself because I'd spent so much time coming up with new poems that I hadn't given myself time to practise reading the stories.

However, as soon as I started reading the first story on stage a weird thing happened. It was like I was standing behind myself, watching myself reading. Amazingly I was getting the tone and timing just right also. I could feel it, the vibe from the audience was electric, shivers down the spine stuff. In the midst of it all I knew that I would have to get rid of the paper for next time and just tell the stories. The rest, as they say, is history. Suddenly, I was a storyteller. Through a series of opportunities and coincidences I started to tell stories in a nursing home and have come a long way since then. It was incredible really, as my father was letting go, he passed his mantle on to me.

I have been a freelance storyteller for six years now, and am included in the Scottish Storytelling Centre Directory. And of course the Netherbow Theatre, where it all started, is now part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre. The spirit of storytelling moves in strange ways.