True Stories Told Live is a simple idea. A bunch of people gather in a small room, have a drink and listen to other people telling true stories. It's not comedy, though it's allowed to be funny. It's not educational, but you might learn something. It's not musical, but we like to include the odd story-telling musician. We ask people not to use notes and expect them to tell stories about themselves. You might even want to have a go at it yourself!

February 10th marked our fifth True Stories Told Live at The Compass in Islington. We didn’t intend the evening to follow a theme. When Steve Bowbrick offered his story about what happened when his attempts to give his mother a humanist funeral in rural Ireland came up against the massed chanting of her Catholic relatives, we thought that was natural. But then we talked to Marsha Shandur and she volunteered the story of the death of her Russian grandmother and so we figured that would make at least the beginnings of a theme to start the first half. We didn’t exactly know what Barb Jungr was doing because she changed her mind a bit. Then Tony Quinlan appeared and he wanted to tell the story of arranging a memorial service for his very distinguished father. At that point we thought it must be fate telling us something. Plus we knew Natalie Haynes was going to do something about Classics so at least that probably wouldn’t involve a funeral. In the event they were all wonderful. Barb settled on a story about being given an owl in a temple in Burma and sang Leonard Cohen “Night Comes On”. Natalie managed to draw a line between Virgil and her father’s second marriage. A splendid time was had by a very packed house.

To find out more about True Stories Told Live and to receive an invite to our next event, please visit the TSTL website and sign up to the mailing list.