Laura Sampson

Stories. Sounds. Words.

AboutContact

Hello!

I’m Laura – a performance storyteller and writer based in London.

Stories

theatres, galleries, librariesschools
live & online …

For adult audiences, I’ve performed with storytelling organisations StoryJam, Crick Crack Club , and Spinning Yarns Theatre; I’ve also created show-length work for the British Library, Bloomsbury Festival and other UK fringe festivals. My latest show-in-progess, HIDE, originally booked for Vault Festival 2022, is in the process of being ‘re-homed’.

Work for children and families includes Animal Lullabies with Secret City Arts, In the Winter Wood with Jan Blake/Polka Theatre, and regular sessions with Story Storks HeritageRich Mix and Discover Childrens Story Centre.

Have a look at my new series 1-minute myths, a video challenge where I tell big stories in 60 seconds or less.

I love working with new people and organisations, and am open to story-related opportunities and adventures of all kinds, and I love a chat, so –

Talk to me

Sounds

sound art, noh

In collaboration with sound artist Sinister Masterplan, I’ve co-produced story and experimental sound events including Lunar Dreams (Bloomsbury Festival) and The Still, alongside co-creating show length performances including contemporary Snow Queen adaptation The New Mirror and musical death-themed collaboration The Old Black Door. I’ve also made solo works that combine spoken words and sound for galleries and venues including Hundred Years Gallery, Groyne Gallery. AMP Studios and Teatro Sagapo (

A practitioner and student of noh since 2011, I perform with Theatre Nohgaku, co-produce Noh Training Project UK. and I’m a postgraduate student of East Asian performance and mythology at SOAS.  In 2020, I performed in new noh Between the Stones (Southbank Centre, London & EU tour).

Spoken

audio, radio,

I also create audio-specific story based works; most recently Three-Crossing River, a narrative response to art works from the exhibition Yōkai, by Helen Maurer and Angela Moore.

Collaborative audio projects I’ve contributed to include Desire Lines (Threads Radio), Littoral Transmissions (Resonance FM, Radiophrenia), and Newham Folk Archive. ‘Pure’ writing commissions include pieces for Musicity.space, Collage Arts, the Noh Reimagined festival and group exhibition They Came Before Us: A History of Women of Colour in the UK.

Commission Me

Upcoming

London, Italy, Festivals

20-21 May: HIDE / shift+space sharings  (Theatre Deli London & livestream)

28May – 4 June: Rewilding Cinderella (Brighton Fringe Festival)

16 July: Women Who Gave No F**ks / Story Jam & Crick Crack Club @ Cranborne Earthhouse, Dorset

18-19 July: Portents @ Buxton Fringe Festival 

Half term, various: The Royal Parade (original folktale adaptation) @ Redbridge Libraries

7-9 Oct: StorytellingTime Festival @ Museo Civico (and other venues) Bolzano, Italy

15 Oct: The Old Black Door @ Bloomsbury Festival 2022

29 Oct: Shivers: The Claw @ Grant Museum UCL

5 Nov: Day of the Dead Family Day, Wanstead Libraries 

12 Nov: Dark Tales & Strange Sounds Copped Hall, Essex

20 Nov: Story Play: Music Theme /  Rich Mix London (families)

1 Dec: Festive Ghost Stories @ Waterstones, Nottingham

Background

I’ve got a first-class degree in English (and Old Norse/Old English) Literature from UCL, and worked in publishing for several years before studying voice and performance storytelling forms in Japan, the UK and the USA. Along the way, I’ve also promoted events, negotiated contracts for brilliant theatre designers, booked tours, and edited other people’s written work.

Contact

Phone :

07832089081

Address :

laura@laurasampson.com