What’s Your Story?
Confabulation Revives the Dying Art of Storytelling
Words by dAniel muRphy / imAge below by chRis dingo
The bare-bones auditorium of the Victoria Events Center is dimly lit, deathly quiet, and packed to the walls with attentive faces. It’s an intimidating arena to bare one’s (often unflattering) life experiences, anxieties, and attempts at humor. But that’s what tonight’s performers willingly signed up for. There’s no going back.
This is Confabulation: each month, six regular civilians sign up to publicly tell a true story from their past. These brave recitalists are coached in their story development and delivery over the four weeks leading up to their performance, and the stories for each event are loosely tied to a unifying theme (such as ‘Setting Sail’ or ‘Not My Job’).
Their coaches are Carol-Lynne Michaels and Cassandra Togneri, co-producers and co-hosts of Confab’s Victorian arm. (The event was first conceived and performed in Montreal in 2010.) As event hosts, they handle speaker introductions and interject between performances with their own theme-relevant personal stories. As coaches, they’re very much ‘in the trenches’ with their students, getting their hands proverbially dirty helping performers shape and refine their topic, narrative flow, and delivery: “It’s a team effort,” says Cassandra. “We make sure that our storytellers succeed.”
The passing of the mic from Carol-Lynne and Cassandra’s experienced hands to a first-timer, swallowing their nerves, self-consciously trying to control their delivery, and remain anchored to their narrative path, can be stark. The hosts’ relaxed stage presence and casual delivery is a reminder that something as simple as ‘telling a story well’ requires thoughtfulness, practice, and in most cases, heavy training. An apparently effortless on-stage demeanor actually requires acute effort and nuance, and it’s the reward that the Confab experience can impart to an aspiring storyteller.
Not all the storytellers who take to the Confab stage are microphonic virgins. Over the 40+ shows that Confab has performed in Victoria, many presenters have returned to further hone their craft, including the occasional public persona—most notably author and science journalist Bob McDonald, presenter of CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks.
It’s curious then, to consider the vastly different backgrounds of each participant, and what motivates them to willingly brave the purple-hued spotlight and unpack their life experiences for an assembly of strangers. There’s certainly no financial reward. No participation trophy. It’s something akin to running a marathon alone in the middle of the night, with a handful of random spectators silently implying that you’re ‘doing a great job’.
But their motivating factors, along with a brief-but-deep insight into their personalities and worldviews, can be gleaned by taking a seat, nursing your beverage of choice, and giving your attention to their monologues.
For some speakers, the allure is simply to overcome the physical and mental challenges of public speaking. Nothing amplifies our self-doubts and internal judgements like standing and delivering in front of a crowd. The ‘story’ becomes a vehicle for defeating the inner demons that keep us childishly shy when faced with the unceasing stare of the spotlight.
For others, there’s a therapeutic aspect, the feeling that they are freeing themselves of some internal struggle by giving it a voice. We, as an audience, might actually be so many barstool psychotherapists, quietly nodding supportively, in a safe space with well-defined boundaries.
Others again appear to be drawn to the idea of entertaining us. There’s a gratification, perhaps, in the service of lightening our hearts, bringing us the gift of laughter.
Regardless of the speaker, or their motives, the audience’s attitude is curiously unchanged: even before the first shaky word is uttered into the microphone, the crowd, while large and intimidating, is palpably supportive. There’s a tangible empathy in the air: We know how difficult this experience must be. We are here to applaud, not to judge.
This pervasive sense of camaraderie, like an unspoken bridge between audience and speaker, is very much a driver for Carol-Lynne and Cassandra in their mission to spread the power of story. As Carol-Lynne deftly points out:
“This show has the ability to increase compassion and empathy, by shining a light on six different people’s lives and experiences. You get to see how different people make decisions, how people are affected differently, and why people have the perspectives that they have. It’s why I often say the day after Confabulation that I have a ‘gratitude hangover.’”
In an era where the word “story” has been co-opted into social media’s disposable vernacular, the idea of watching an actual person, performing a true and not-entirely-flattering personal account of their own life, is sadly unusual. If you’re pining for a more analogue life experience, where people make the space to hear and connect with one another, Confabulation will be more than just a fun evening–it will buoy that innate sense of community that the digital movement promised us, but is ultimately choking out. Confabulation is resuscitating those very human, very necessary bonds, one story at a time.
Confabulation is performed on the third Thursday of each month, at the Victoria Events Centre (1415 Broad St).
