What do storytellers need from the OutoftheBox table?

There is an OutoftheBox story called Invitations which goes:
“There was once a person who decided to throw a party. They sent out the invitations and prepared the very best of food. Chocolate gateau, lemon tart and strawberries. On the day of the party everyone made their excuses. Some were too busy, some had other places to go, some decided to stay at home. And so the person sent out invitations to people they had never invited before. Everyone came. And still there was room for more.”

This story was shared by one of the participants at the end of a two day training on Story and Play, after which she opened up the Community Play by asking “As an OutoftheBox storyteller what do you need from the OutoftheBox community table?”

Storytellers practising Invitations story

In the Community Play the other five course participants were invited to play with the loose parts from OutoftheBox. The yellow circle became the OOB stories that members are given. The red petal was placed down to show that we can adapt these stories and offer new ones. The large circle was the circle of storytellers who need to be able to find connection with each other (shown by the feathery yarn which in previous stories had represented ideas, connections and nests). It was felt that storytellers also needed to be participants in stories both so they could remember what it is like to be a participant and also to find refreshment for themselves. “We feed each other in order to have something to offer.” So a smaller circle was formed in the middle for storytellers to gather to share OutoftheBox sessions. It was felt that these sessions should be led by different OutoftheBox storytellers. If it was the same person they would have burnout. This sharing of roles also enables power to be shared in the OutoftheBox community of storytellers. Creating this smaller story sharing circle brought it home to the groups that there should be no ‘inner circles’ of power.
A place of rest was created with three brown felt strips and a person laid down to show that we can take sabbaticals and step back from roles and jobs and give the ‘storytelling cape’ to someone else. For instance this would be needed if our mental health was not good. We had previously considered roles and power through the story of The Cape.
The green leaves represented taking stories out to our communities and we thought about how members of these communities may themselves become the storytellers. See another blog on for an example of this. It was noted that the circles were not meant to represent ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ circles - which led to thinking about the circles as more like Venn diagrams (see below).

The Community Play

The group thought about specifics that might be on the table of the online Circles community.

• A Questions board (for instance a storyteller could ask “Help - this happened - what do I do?” or “I looked at this OOB story and I am not chiming with it”

• Debriefing and feedback for storytellers is really important and we need to find ways to receive this. This could be done face to face with people we know, but we could also use the online community, especially if we are working alone.

• A storyteller may need quite immediate support, for example if they feel something went really badly in a session. A sort of chaplaincy support from the online community - where you know if you post something you will receive quick and helpful replies.

When thinking about how the table might facilitate connection and a sharing of power paper and a pen were used. Seeing the circles as interlocking felt more helpful than concentric circles as they more helpfully illustrate a sharing of power. The geographical locations of Sheffield and Tyneside (the two places where our group came from) and another location of Belgium were used as an example. The community (both online and face to face) can help storytellers in these three locations (and many more) to meet, support and share ideas with each other.

Written by Kathryn Lord who was facilitating the 2 day Story and Play training in Sheffield in September 2022. Kathryn took notes during the Community Play.