Light & Dark | 7pm

Join two accomplished tellers, Lalla Fatima Ait Abderrahman (Morocco) and Órla Mc Govern (Ireland), as they tell stories that explore darkness, light, and where the two might meet and overlap. Stories that explore intention and allegiance. Stories that ask us to question....

Lalla Fatima Ait Abderrahman
Lalla Fatima Ait Abderrahman is an English language teacher working with children and teenagers in Marrakech, and storytelling has become an important part of the way she teaches. She uses stories not only to help students develop their English, but also to encourage their imagination, curiosity and creativity, and to open conversations about choices, consequences, respect for others and the lessons we can carry with us through life. Lalla Fatima believes that bringing stories into the classroom gives language learning a different flavor: it brings joy, breaks the routine of teaching, and helps children connect with the language in a more natural and meaningful way.

Lalla Fatima Ait Abderrahman is also a storyteller with the World Storytelling Café in Marrakech, and is delighted to be joining YARN as its representative through the international residency programme. Her connection with the storytelling world grew through involvement with Al Muniya Marrakech Association, which works to preserve and revitalise Marrakech’s storytelling heritage and support storytellers. Through the association, she discovered the first international storytelling festival in Marrakech, where she volunteered to help translate some of the performances.

This experience also inspired Lalla Fatima to develop the idea of inviting English-speaking storytellers to perform for children in Marrakech schools and educational institutions. She wanted our pupils to discover other cultures through stories, hear English spoken by native speakers, and experience the language beyond the traditional classroom — creating opportunities to learn, share, discover one another, and build bridges of peace and friendship.

Lalla Fatima is deeply interested in Morocco’s intangible oral heritage and in finding ways to keep it alive by passing it on to younger generations. She believes that schools can play an important role in this continuity. Perhaps one day, some of the children who listen to these stories will themselves become Moroccan storytellers, carrying their heritage beyond Morocco and sharing it with audiences elsewhere. For Lalla Fatima, storytelling is a meeting place: whether the storyteller comes from Morocco, Ireland, Britain, America or elsewhere, what brings people together is the story — and, in this case, the English language through which people can meet and discover one another.

Órla Mc Govern

Órla Mc Govern is a Storyteller, Writer, Performer and Facilitator living in Galway, Ireland. An award-winning storyteller who has performed at the Cape Clear Festival, Yarn Festival at Mermaid Arts, World Storytelling Café, Electric Picnic and numerous other venues and events, Órla is also the artistic director of ‘Moth & Butterfly’ a storytelling and improvisation collective based in the West of Ireland.

Órla’s plays have been produced in Ireland and the US and produced at: First Irish Festival, New York, Key City Theatre, Washington, Fregoli Theatre, Galway (Cúirt at Mick Lally Theatre), Red Barn Thomastown, Martello Media/Alive-O (for Guinness storehouse), The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Farmleigh Dublin, Brigit’s Garden Galway, and more. Órla has also written several short films, produced in Ireland, and also works as an actor for TV, Radio and Film.

Órla is a master level performer and facilitator of improvisational theatre, and regularly teaches and performs in festivals around the world. She has performed with Spolin Players, The Edge Improv, Carlotta’s Late Night Wing Ding, The Seattle Neutrino Project, Seattle Goga, and at Improv Fest Ireland, Barcelona Improv Festival, Finland International Improv Festival, Theatre de L’Oignon, Strasbourg, France, Improfest Sweden, Improv Brussels, IMPRO Romania, Improdrom, Poland, and many more. Órla also teaches Improvisational Theatre in both Corporate and Arts settings, and has facilitated workshops for Google, LinkedIn, Bellevue College, Cork Institute of Technology, The Blue Teapot Theatre Company, Galway, Galway Actors’ Workshop, Galway Theatre Festival, as well as for many schools and classes across Ireland. Órla is the Artistic Director of The Spontaneous Theatre People and The Sky Babies Improv Troupe, and was co-director of Improv Fest Ireland for many years.