Performance
“A flash of inspiration, a whole load of belly-laughs, a hero’s journey or a new way of looking at life….”
Photo credit: Emily Appleton South West Theatre Photography
Shows Currently Available & Touring
Contact me for prices and booking
Image: Tony Whitehead
“Who’ll spring from his seat and take this weapon?”
A giant appears at the New Year feast with a deadly challenge. Does Gawain have what it takes to stay alive?
A new version of the medieval Arthurian tale, laced with tree folklore and midwinter magic.
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the Holly bears the crown.
80 minutes. Suitable for ages 14+
Gawain and the Green Knight
Image: Alan Lee
Dark Fairy Tales For Grown Ups
Step into the shadows and rediscover old tales – twisted, mysterious, and far darker than the versions you remember. Expect ghostly apparitions, shapeshifting creatures, severed heads, and the mischief of the Little Folk – these are not fairy tales for the faint-hearted.
Drawing on the rich, unsettling traditions of British and European fairy tales and folklore, Lisa brings these age-old stories to life with chilling clarity.
85 minutes. Suitable for ages 18+
“Spellbinding storytelling” – Green Hill Arts
Image: Annabel Ross
Ever since the last ice melted, trees have been our constant companions. Meet the leaf-clad, twisted-root heroes of these islands - the ones who create the very stuff of our lives.
This storytelling will take you into the heart of the greenwood of Britain and Ireland, with strange and earthy folk tales of oak and blackthorn, aspen and elder and yew.
After all, what is a folk tale, but a tangled woodland of words, where anything could happen?
55 minute and 85 minute versions, as indoor performance or as a story walk. Suitable for ages 14+
“Lisa knows exactly how to charm the leaves off a tree.” Selvedge magazine
The Greenwood Bough
Chasing Crockern
On a stormy night on Dartmoor, a midwife is woken by a strange-looking man whose wife needs urgent help. Driving at breakneck speed through lanes that become increasingly unfamiliar, she arrives at a mysterious old cottage where things are not quite what they seem…
Chasing Crockern blends storytelling for adults with the sounds and voices of Dartmoor to bring the spirit of the moor alive in a new way for today’s audiences. Guided by storytellers Sara Hurley and Lisa Schneidau, you’ll hear ancient creation myths and medieval legends, folktales, and everyday adventures in a show that blurs the boundaries between folklore and reality.
Directed by Paula Crutchlow, this show is the culmination of a major partnership project with Villages in Action, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Skylark FM and a whole host of creatives and communities. We toured it on Dartmoor in March 2025 and plan a further tour in autumn 2026 – watch this space! In the meantime, enjoy the virtual exhibition at https://villagesinaction.co.uk/crockern/
Made possible thanks to the generous support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England, using money raised by National Lottery players.
“Extraordinary. My greatest hope is that people walk around Dartmoor seeing with both eyes. The reality and the real magic.“
90 minutes. Suitable for ages 14+.
Photo: Tony Emsworthy
The World Tree
In a world of magic and miracles, Yggdrasil the ash tree holds all of creation in its roots and branches. Odin the Allfather hangs upside down from the great tree, waiting for wisdom to come. But what happens when the ash tree falls sick?
Ash is one of our commonest trees, bringing many gifts: timber, fuel, tools, inspiration and protection. Now ash dieback is on the march through our countryside, and in ten years’ time most of our ash trees will be lost.
The World Tree is a storytelling dedicated to our beloved ash trees, past, present and future. Here’s a tangle of Norse myth, Irish legend and English folktale, where you can hear the latest about our tree pandemic, learn some juicy reptilian insults and discover what happened after the world really did end.
60 and 90 minute versions. Suitable for ages 12+
“…poetic and powerful.”
“…the stories were mesmerizing.”
Silence and Love
Not all wars are seen or heard. Sometimes the only sound of war you will hear is… silence.
This is the story of Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring. It is a tale of love and lies, a million tiny murders – and the soaring wings of the peregrine falcon as it returns home.
45 minutes. Suitable for ages 14+.
“A really powerful piece… shocking, compelling and curious.”
The Tangle of the Commons tells the story of the British landscape and our relationship with the wild things around us, seen and unseen. Who really owns this place – and what happens if humans push things too far?
Here are some of the old tales, laced with history, ecology and a hefty dose of the ridiculous, to provoke thought and inspiration about the land we usually take so much for granted. Expect malevolent fairies, dastardly robber kings, slimy boggarts and a particularly disgruntled wild pig.
The Tangle of the Commons
“Lisa takes an old, familiar story – and along the way, reshapes and updates it with captivating skill, wit and verve.”
90 and 60 minute versions. Suitable for ages 12+.
Wild Women and Witches is an hour-long storytelling piece about the hedge-wisdom held by women in Britain through the ages.
These folk tales paint a picture of how society has used and abused wise women – from midwifery to witch-burning.
Wise Women and Witches
60 minutes. Suitable for 14+
Collaborations & Past Shows
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In the times before modern science, things were explained differently. Tales told through generations passed on the knowledge and wisdom of people and place, wrapped in the epic journeys of heroes, heroines and dragons.
What hero stories would our ancestors tell of rural life today? Our landscapes are rapidly changing, the maidens have attitude and armour is pointless… Lisa, with musician Emma Welton and filmmaker Matt Biggs, present a new contemporary storytelling show, directed by Paula Crutchlow, that connects us across the centuries.
90 minutes. Suitable for ages 13+.
“A tingling blend of music, myth and moving picture that carries you deep into the heart of the land.”
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and by Plymouth University, North Devon & Torridge Councils and Beaford.
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Fools in the wasteland. Cracks in the kingdom. Warriors sleeping under the hill. How to heal the wounds? How to speak truth? Is it really magic, or just knowing where to look? Fragments of Arthurian legend that reflect the times we are living through now. Woven together with song and hope and humanity.
Katy Cawkwell tells Arthur and Mordred. He’s slept with his sister. He can’t trust his son. The fake news is getting out of control. Cracks in the kingdom are widening and things are falling apart…
Lisa Schneidau tells Healing the Wasteland. A fool is fated to discover a great truth. He’s on the right track, when the land around him is dying. But does he even know the right question to ask?
Ronnie Conboy tells The King Under The Hill. Somewhere underfoot, in the quiet dark, sleeps the hope of a nation. A young man walks a lonely road with an unexpected friend. Maybe there’s no such thing as magic: it’s just knowing where to look.
90 minutes. Suitable for ages 12+.
“A deeply healing evening in the midst of all the grief, destruction, subterfuge and courage of our times.”
Photo: Little Ghost Photography