Unhappily Ever After Review

Action-packed tales and haunting melodies

Tom began his tale telling hour with context towards his Unhappily Ever After theme and how the book of the same name came about. Usually writing and performing for children, this was his first fringe foray.  

Once the tales began, he morphed from storytelling into a mesmerising one-man performance as he embodied and gave voices to his weird and wonderful characters. The high-pitched voices of his ‘collection of devils’ was a particularly amusing sound. 

Folk tale number two was a speedy affair but brought another of Tom’s talents to the fore - singing. He led this Wolverhampton audience in The Pack along with him to the not-so-near sea via his haunting sea shanties. A fascinating tale of sailors and mermaids followed, and a well-known song about an inebriated sailor brought back fond childhood memories. 

Tom kept the audience - including a very keen dog trying to get in on the action - engaged throughout this active performance. Time flew and a shorter time giving context at the beginning may have been useful, as I would have liked to have heard the extended version of his mesmerising tale of mermaids and sailors. 

We were fortunate however to be the very first to experience this intriguing folk tale themed event alongside Tom on his maiden voyage into the world of Fringe.