Vita

Rachel is a storyteller and applied storytelling practitioner from Scotland and Germany who feels at home in both German and English.

She comes from a storytelling tradition in Scotland. She studied German language and literature in Edinburgh and Acting Directing in Berlin.

She has toured with several of her own storytelling shows, an entertaining mix of stories from the past, present and future, including myths and true stories (historical, local heroes and heroines, family and personal experiences) as well as live music.

Inspired by Scottish storyteller Robert Burns, who told his stories in rural communities and in the salons of Edinburgh, she tells stories in a wide variety of social contexts. She also composes ballads inspired by Burns' ballad Tam O'Shanter. Her motivation is a sense of social solidarity and responsibility.  Her father invented good night stories and wrote narrative ballads, inspired by Burns for work and social occasions, such as retirement ceremonies, births and weddings.

Her cousin wrote his PhD about the Travellers in the 1980s, the nomadic people of Scotland, and published it as a book. Rachel was 13 at the time, and this first got her interested in storytelling as an art form.

She is a pioneer of new storytelling formats, including the storytelling short film. Her latest programme, ‘Big Tales – Ballads for our Times’, will incorporate multimedia elements.

She is the artistic director of the Storytelling Arena, a non-profit organisation registered in 2019 that began as a storytelling stage in 2015. The Storytelling Arena carries out applied storytelling projects to create dialogue on the issues of our time through storytelling.

QUALIFICATIONS

Diploma in Acting Directing

Theory & Practice,  Cultural Sociology, The Academy for the Dramatic Arts Ernst Busch, Berlin

MA Degree in German

German language and literature. Subsiduary Subjects - French and Business Studies, University of Edinburgh, Scotland (MA, Hons; 2:1)

Certifications

  • Psychodrama Instructor - Psychodrama Forum Berlin (2015)

  • Trainer of Trainers, TOT, IHK Berlin, AEVO tested and certified (2015)

  • Trainer of Trainers Intercultural Knowledge (IKAP Thailand / SE Asia, 2007)

Further Training

  • Forum Theatre (Partizipatory, Thematic), Centro do Teatro Oprimido,
    Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (2001), Artistic Director:  Augusto Boal

  • Giant & Multi-Sized Puppet Theatre on Global Themes
    Bread & Puppet Theatre, Glover, Vermont, United States
    Artistic Director, Peter Schumann (Germany), 2001 and 2019