The Live Art of Storytelling & Narrative Performance

The advantage that storytelling has over other forms of theater is that it does not have what’s referred to as “the fourth wall.” The audience are not passive observers of a little world they can’t interact with. I like to say that in storytelling, we have a “fourth window.” Sometimes the storyteller is inside the house of the story, speaking only to or for the characters inside the story, and sometimes the storyteller is speaking directly out the window to the audience. But the storyteller is aware of the audience, the audience knows the storyteller is aware of them. The audience is a part of the story because that interaction through the “fourth window” influences the story. They are empowered to speak back through that window into the house of the story, sometimes literally through speaking and other times through their reactions. The storyteller responds to the feedback the listeners give.

I believe adults are most familiar with this “fourth window” type of theater in stand-up comedy. There’s this electric connection between the speaker and audience because the audience knows the speaker is aware of them. This is true stand-up and storytelling. For Traditional Storytellers, what we present must always be a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. But because the goal is a story, it allows us to transcend the “fourth window” experience to include tremulation, horror, hope, courage, and joy….the whole of the human adventure. You can laugh and cry and learn within one single storytelling performance.The result is a powerful and memorable experience.