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The Grimm Brothers gathered many stories that most of us know today.
We have such tales as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White that Disney has made popular.
Of the many Grimm tales, Iron John and Hansel and Gretel had possibilities to shed light indirectly on child abuse in the home. The only time to bring up the abuse was at the beginning of each of the stories.
This seems like a strange way to begin the whole "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" program.
Where was the humor?
While at the Utah Storytelling Guild Olympus Chapter Christmas party, I brought some of my books on Iron John so people could get a taste as to what direction I was heading. Luckily, everyone there knew the story of Hansel and Gretel.
Strengths for Iron John:
- Interesting relationship between the boy-prince and the Wild Man, as the Wild Man is really like a second father
- Heavily a "guy" story while the ending story, The Gardener's Wife, is heavily a "girl" story so it balances out the program
- Boy-prince is an eight-year-old while the boy in the center story, Forsaken Brother, is one which I already planned for the boy to also be an eight-year-old
Strengths for Hansel and Gretel:
- Familiar story with a "Rachel twist" could be welcomed by the audience
- Chance for children to be heroes and show how siblings can help each other
- Mother character is intriguing for she (and not a stepmother as shared in other versions) was the one who took the children to the woods to get lost
We shall see.
Until we tell again,
Rachel Hedman
Professional Storyteller
Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)
How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com
Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.comOther places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller
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