Storyteller Michael Harvey has launched a new company, BANDO! a company that will champion storytelling, merging with other artforms with no rules or limits.
BANDO! is passionate about storytelling and creating stories, performances and projects bilingually that fuses together oral storytelling, movement, music, space and improvisation.
BANDO! (which was inspired by the turn of the century Bando games and group Bando brothers, a game without any rules played in the South Wales valleys) will be a company that supports bold and risk taking projects, and will support the opportunities for creatives to collaborate, diversifying and build storytelling audiences for the future.
Michael Harvey has over twenty year’s experience as a storyteller, workshop leader and director in the field of storytelling. He has toured throughout Wales and internationally and was awarded a Major Creative Wales Award in 2011. When creating his recent piece which premiered at Beyond the Border in 2021, he realised there was an appetite and need for shows to be told in Welsh, English and movement and music all at the same time.
“When we created Y Llyn in 2022 I knew from working with Stacey Blythe that storytelling and music were a fit. I had already discovered that Welsh/English bilingual telling worked and from working with Eeva-Maria Mutka I knew that the body and storytelling were a dynamic combination. When we put this altogether, we were overwhelmed by the response from audiences and the demand for stories to be developed and told like this.
As BANDO! we will explore opportunities to work with, and support dedicated and talented people. We will expand who creates stories, how we create and perform bilingually; stretching, improvising on what storytelling is and can be. We want to create space with no rules on how we create stories; that transcends languages, body and minds to connect with audiences and participants in Wales and beyond.
Our first production will be a 12 date tour across Wales of Y Llyn our reimagined version of Llyn Y Fan Fach (The Lady of the Lake).” Michael Harvey, Artistic Director, BANDO!
BANDO! will be touring Y Llyn this autumn and into Spring 2025 across Wales heading to Pontypridd, Ceredigion, Tenby, Crickhowell, Llanelli, Ammanford, Barry, Holyhead, Caernarfon, Builth Wells and Presteign. Full tour details can be found on the BANDO! website and social media website. Tickets for all venues will be on sale soon.
Website - https://www.bandowales.org/
Y Llyn and BANDO! has received supported from Arts Council Wales and Adverse Camber.