Category: News

I have been studying Narrative Therapy with the Institute of Narrative Therapy and am proud to say I have completed Level One 🙂

Narrative Therapy is a form of counselling that uses the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our lives. It separates problems from people, and helps them use their own skills and knowledge to find a solution.

This is what I’ve learned so far:

The story metaphor in therapy. How to understand people’s actions from the stories of their lives. An appreciation of how stories shape lives and re-storying can re-shape lives. How to rewrite the past without erasing past experiences.

Externalisation. How to externalise problems in multiple ways. How to make vague problems concrete and manageable. Unique outcomes and alternative story development – become an effective practitioner with the most chronic and complex problems that ordinarily induce despair. How to discern hope in dire situations. How to spot nuggets of gold in conversations that lift the atmosphere. What to look for when a conversation seems negative or hopeless. Move conversations quickly from problem-saturated to problem-solving.

Exceptions. How to turn seemingly small initiatives into substantive developments from which problem solving skills emerge that can move past those ‘revolving-door’ situations

De-centred practice. How to develop collaborative and respectful ways of relating to clients that makes them the expert on their lives and honours the skills, experience, knowledge and significant relationships of the people who come to meet with us.

Re-authoring lives. How to use any piece of information to identify a person’s strong values.  How to connect these with other events and figures in people’s lives to clarify a sense of identity so that entirely new perspectives are possible.

Question structures. How to structure conversations: maps to guide conversations; questions that can rescue conversational cul de-sacs; questions that avoid those “yes, but…” replies; question structures that have profound effects on a person’s thinking; questions that make small improvements much bigger; ways to respond when someone says “I don’t know”; questions that consistently move conversations forward; how to understand conversations so that you’re never stuck for a question; how to chart conversations that reveal where and why they got stuck.

Norms and power. How to question taken for granted norms and integrate an ethical approach with brief practice. Understand Michel Foucault’s critique of cultural norms and how they affect all our lives. How to discern and appreciate the power of these norms without getting captured by them. How to use language to avoid applying norms to people’s lives.

Wider contexts. How to take account and make visible the wider social, economic, cultural and political contexts of people’s lives

Outsider Witnessing. How to provide moving and powerful acknowledgements of people that unstick them from repetitive processes. How to use imagery to evoke strong and positive feelings.

Writing Letters and Documents. How to write simple letters that have powerful therapeutic effects and get changes widely recognised.

Re-membering Conversations. How to use memories to support people in the present. How to bring figures from the past or mythical characters to life as co-therapists.

I performed at the big After Grimm folklore conference at Kingston University last week, and decided to do The Donkey Cabbages as an exploration into love and constancy.

It worked extremely well, and I picked up a lovely review from fellow storyteller Red Phoenix:

‘Cat’s use of the stage, dynamics and emotionally raw tensions really exploded the characters from ‘Donkey Cabbages’ into the room, always just at the right moment so that a greater understanding of the motives and complex relationships was understood and felt throughout the room, a highly enjoyable and thoughtful performance.’

You can read the review of the whole show here: http://www.redphoenixstory.com/blog/

After Kingston, I headed to Cardiff to tell the story on Saturday at the magnificent Wales Millennium Centre. My show was streamed LIVE to the world! That was a first for me 🙂

What a great story The Donkey Cabbages is… I look forward to exploring it more, through each new telling.

I have opened my second club in Birmingham! The Mee Club is a twice-monthly spoken word cabaret, based at the wonderful Kitchen Garden Cafe in Kings Heath.

The show features a mixed bill of storytellers, performance poets, stand up comedians, actors, authors, journalists and musicians – 15 minutes of each, with a bit longer for the music act at the end. The list of performers for each cabaret can be found on the Mee Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/TheMeeClub

Upcoming dates for the club are: 4 & 18 September, 2 & 16 October, 6 & 20 November and 4 December.

Tickets are £7 on the door. The show begins at 7.30 but the cafe is open from 6.30 for yummy food.

It is advertised as a singles night, and singles are ESPECIALLY welcome. But couples are very welcome too 🙂

Venue: Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7SA  tel: 0121 443 4725

My new show BLUEBEARD was a late night hit at Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival last weekend. It was a perfect setting… a fourteenth century feasting hall with enormous roof beams, heavy oak doors, flickering candles and deep shadows. And what a great audience too. I was a bit worried that no one would come! It was the last show of the festival, it didn’t begin until 10.30pm, and I knew many people would already be heading home or too ‘storied out’ to sit through another show. But they came! Loads of them  – the place was packed – and they loved it 🙂

Here’s what people wrote in my Comments Book after the show:

‘Dark, awesome, truthful and beautiful. I have seen and heard so many wonderful storytellers this weekend, but your story has opened another, stranger, more terrifying window. Thank you so much.’

‘In terms of composition and performance, the finest spectacle at Beyond the Border 2012.’

‘You manifested all the female archetypes with such sensitivity and conviction and your unfolding of the complex dynamics interplaying between them was stunning………..THANK YOU’

‘If Carlsberg did storytellers, YOU would be it!! WOW!!’

‘This performance really kept me awake! Very impressive, very courageous.’

I will be touring the show soon. I’m looking for suitable venues right now!

I’m preparing for one of my FAVOURITE festivals – Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival. www.beyondtheborder.com It takes place in the grounds of a fabulous fairytale castle, right by the sea at St Donat’s in South Wales. Not far from Cardiff.

There will be storytellers and musicians from all around the world… It’s wonderful! I think it’s the fourth or fifth time I’ve performed there.

This year I will be telling HOW TO BE GLORIOUS and giving a world premiere performance of  BLUEBEARD – late night, adults only!

The festival takes place from 29 June – July 1.

On May 16 & 17, I will be down in London, telling at one of my favourite venues – the wondrous 40 WINKS HOTEL. And I will be in the company of the equally wondrous Danish storyteller KASPER SORENSEN. The event is already completely sold out, but here’s what the lucky ticket holders can expect…

Bedtime Story Nights

‘Bedtime Story Nights’ were created by the marvellous Mr Carter and have been running at 40 Winks since June 2009. They have had recommendations and rave reviewsin The Evening Standard, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Stylist, Tatler, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Le Cool, Daily Candy and too many other publications to mention without sounding immodest…. although we could also tell you that they have been included in the Saturday Times list of the ’60 Best Things To Do In Britain’, have had several Critics Choice awards in Time Out and even popped up in a Sunday Times Travel Magazine hot list of the 14 most amazing things to do in the world!!

Our story nights are a totally unique experience in London, bursting with genuine charm, warmth and humour. We work with a fantastic team of professional storytellers, actors and musicians, handpicked for their virtuosity by Mr Carter and his Curator of Tales, Miss Rachel Rose Reid. They are a much loved institution and will have you squealing with delight for months to come.

Murder and Mayhem

May 16 and 17. Cat Weatherill and Kasper Sorensen will have you shivering in your nighties with some scandalously dark and scary tales, including one intriguingly called ‘The One Handed Murderer’!

Sold Out!

Our whimsical and intoxicating evenings always end with some music. Our chanteurs and chanteuses over the coming months include Tricity Vogue, Oli Deakin, Christina Coronel, Chris Singleton, Mee, Alexandra Carter and Anne Lowe. All fabulous, all beautiful and all extraordinarily talented.

General Knowledge

Times: We open our doors at 7.00pm, and start the performances at 8.15pm. We aim to return guests to reality by 10.45pm.

Tickets: Still a very modest £25 per head, including unusually nice cocktails provided by our kind and
generous benefactors, Hendrick’s Gin and Belvoir Fruit Farms, and some nutritious nibbles.

Booking: Simply email us at reservations@40winks.org

Where: 40 Winks, 109 Mile End Road, London E1 4UJ
Nearest tube: Stepney Green (a three minute stroll in slippers)

Dressiquette: A dress code of jimjams and nighties is strictly enforced by our highly trained pyjama police, but with Benefit Cosmetics sponsoring our ‘Most Glamorous Nightie Award’ (the prize is worth a staggering £300), it is well worth making an effort to impress and seduce. We suggest guests bring along something nice to cuddle up to, such as a friend, lover or teddy bear.

For further information on Bedtime Stories, 40 Winks or indeed Mr Carter, please email us at info@40winks.org

What a whirlwind adventure the second half of 2011 turned into! Four foreign trips and wonderful work at home here in the UK too.

The first foreign trip was to Saudi Arabia – the first International Children’s Cultural Fair in Riyadh. The second trip was to India – to the magnificent Hay Festival Kerala. Kerala is the tip of the tiger’s tooth of India – right down at the bottom 🙂 But Europe was not forgotten, with performances at the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival and a special Christmas show in Copenhagen with Kasper Sorensen.

When I can find a  moment, I will post photos of all these trips!