ABOUT THE BLOGGER

Alastair K. Daniel and The Story Tent

In my early adult years I, like so many others, struggled with what I wanted to do with my life. I had trained to be a secondary school maths teacher, but then ran away to drama school rather than going into teaching. The problem was that when I was acting, I wanted to be a teacher. When I was teaching I wanted to be an actor. 

​

The breakthrough came when I was made redundant after four years teaching part-time in a centre for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. During my time at the school, I had found that telling stories to the children could have  a dramatic effect on them. I could calm those that had lost control (please note the word 'could' there - not 'always did') and often allowed children who struggled with imaginative play to enter new worlds and experience moments of wonder that were sadly lacking in much else of the their day to day lives. 

​

And so, with staff reductions, and me having to move on, I started storytelling, under the banner of The Story Tent. This life brought together a lot of what I loved about the stage, with my love of being in the classroom. In twelve years, as a professional storyteller, I only worked once outside an educational context (and that was a 50 year old's birthday party). Ironically, it is since leaving full-time storytelling in 2010, and taking up an academic role in teacher education, that I have found myself telling stories in the world outside school.

​

Alastair K Daniel