Storytellers Residency #9: Daughter Of The Hearth Fire

Oral Storytelling at Moore and Moore Cafe

Welcome to Daughters Of The Hearth Fire, our final residency of 2026, bringing the art of traditional oral storytelling to a contemporary audience.

In residency this month are Silvia Lehmann and Jaya Penelope, bringing two unruly mytho-poetic fairy tales to life.

The evening will begin with Jaya taking us to the roaring fire of the Fianna, the mythical warriors and bards of old Celtic Ireland. A story that dives below the sea, where love, passion and the faithfulness of promises are tested. Healing water mixed with blood in a golden cup may bring balance back to all things, or will it? Is it a balance we neither expect nor can name, yet feels ‘right’?

After this coherent disorientation, Silvia will call on inspiration from American storyteller Sylvia V. Linsteadt’s oral telling of ‘Maria of the Ashes’, weaving with versions from Slavic countries, the Greek Peloponnese and Germany, in a story you likely know and yet have never heard before.

Together, we’ll enter a house where a mother’s bones are the central, living foundation. We follow the red story thread into an uncanny world where mothers can transform into cows, cloth can be woven from the light of the morning star, and the scent of our true, wild love that comes wafting from the forest viscerally reminds us not to settle for what society tells us is all we deserve.

Join us in a world where the marrow of ancestral bones carries the gifts we need to transform our lives.

About the Storytellers:

Silvia Lehmann: Is a professional theatre director, playwright and storyteller from Denmark, WA. Silvia aims to re-enchant the world one mytho-poetic story at a time. Her wealth of experience across creative mediums brings an aliveness to her storytelling. Silvia is a founding member and regular teller at Great Southern Storytelling and has co-created and performed with Christian Cairns in The Descent of Persephone at Denmark's Brave New Works Festival (2025), amongst many other tellings across WA.

Jaya Penelope: Poet and storyteller steeped in mythopoetic wisdom, Jaya has been fundamental in keeping the flame of contemporary oral storytelling alive in WA. Her storytelling is generous and wild; it brings together the nature of the wild and the mundane. Every story from Jaya will leave you with a tapestry of poetic imagery.

The evening begins in the beautiful Moore and Moore Cafe space, where the cafe is open for dinner, cakes and drinks. Then the performance space opens, and you're invited to receive a story told in the oral tradition: no notes, no script, no show, just the rawness of the poetic language of the storytellers and the vivacity of your imagination.

Food and Drinks: The wonderful Moore and Moore Cafe is opening its doors to us for these events. Their team will be on hand to serve drinks from their small bar, coffee and cakes (a wonderful interval treat), and dinner will be available to pre-order for before the performance or during the interval. Dinner options will be announced closer to the event.

Event Schedule: Thursday 26th November 2026

Doors: 18:00 – Arrive and settle in with a drink and something to eat.

Performance starts: 19:00 – Performance area opens; enter in silence.

Interval: 19:45 – Take a breather and order a drink or cafe-made cake.

Performance continues: 20:10 – Regather and listen to the second part.

Ending: 21:00 – Ending after a short discussion and Q&A with the storytellers.

Please note that this performance is open to those aged 16+.

FILMING AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Please note: This event will be recorded. By attending the event, you agree to be filmed and/or photographed, and for those images and footage to be shared online and across various promotional platforms.

Photo of Silvia by: Nic Duncan