Over 80 people flocked to the inaugural Fiction Out Loud event at Rosny Barn on Sunday, 30 March.
Organised by Kim Ransley, Maggie Veness, Marly Flynn, and Ciaran Hogan, it saw eight stories written by local writers brought to life by professional actors.
“It was really exciting seeing the stories performed rather than just printed,” Ransley told Tasmanian Times.
“I’d been a bit nervous the morning of the event, but there was a moment soon after Ciaran [who was MC] walked onto the stage and started speaking that I knew it was all going to come off beautifully. After that, I could relax and enjoy the stories. It was kind of magical just listening like that. It reminded me of being read to as a child.”
“Who didn’t enjoy being read to when they were young?” Veness mused.
“It had come together brilliantly,” Flynn chimed in. “The actors were all there, the videographer was at work, the lighting and sound systems were brilliant, and we had a great audience.”
From London to Hobart
“Several years ago, one of my short stories was selected and performed one evening at a regular event in London, called Liar’s League,” Maggie Veness told Tasmanian Times.
“Stories were read, each by a different professional actor. I was invited to attend, but a trip to London wasn’t possible financially; however, I was able to watch a podcast of the event. It looked and sounded great! I’d mentioned all this to Kim, who was inspired by the format they used.”
Ransley decided she wanted to bring this live fiction experience to Tasmania.
“Short fiction tends not to get the recognition of longer forms, but it’s a great little genre and deserves a bigger audience,” Ransley explained.
“Performing it live turns the reading into a social event. You can listen with a bunch of friends and natter away afterwards about the stories you liked, and the twists and turns you weren’t expecting.”
Veness said Ransley floated the idea of producing something similar to Liar’s League in Hobart at a meeting of their writing group, Eastern Shore Writers.
“Marly, Ciaran, and myself said we were willing to help, however we could,” she said. “We four began meeting regularly to plan the event, and it soon became clear to us that we each had something different and valuable to bring to the table. But if we were going to do this well, we needed money! Kim suggested applying for a grant from the Clarence City Council.”
They applied for the grant, which was successful, then got busy creating and managing the Fiction Out Loud website, organising ticketing, and liaising with the various parties that became involved, which included authors, actors, and videographers.
Ransley, Veness, Flynn, and Hogan scoped different venue options before deciding on Rosny Barn. It had been suggested to them by the Clarence City Council’s arts team.
“It turned out to be an excellent venue, an interesting and beautiful building, so well suited for this type of event, easy to access and well set up,” Flynn said.
“The sound was perfect no matter where people sat. It was affordable, which was a big factor as well.”
Flynn added that there was still a lot of work involved in every aspect of the event, but “working with such a great co-operative team made a world of difference”.
“Everyone shared ideas and opinions, and we blossomed, feedback was very open and well-received, and this ensured the best possible outcome.”
Submissions From All Corners of Tasmania
Once everything was ready and the website was live, writers were invited to submit pieces of 800 to 1,000 words with the theme of ‘mistaken identity’. Ransley said there were dozens of submissions from all over the state.
“Maggie did the selecting, with input from Ciaran,” she explained.
“All the stories were de-identified before she got them, and she made her selection without knowing who the author was.”
But Ransley admitted that advertising Fiction Out Loud was harder than she realised.
“People are so diverse in the way they consume media these days,” she said.
“We found that putting flyers around the place worked well, but it took quite an effort – mainly from Maggie and Marly – to get them out there.”
To Be Continued?
The four organisers have received positive feedback on Fiction Out Loud.
“People didn’t just say they ‘enjoyed the event’, they enthused over which were their favourite stories; the actors that they thought gave the best interpretation; even how the stories affected them,” Flynn said.
“Everyone had differing opinions about which they enjoyed the most and why.”
Despite this, the future of Fiction Out Loud is currently uncertain.
“There are a few more hurdles to jump before we can declare it a recurring event,” Ransley explained.
“For one thing, we’d need another injection of funding – either another grant or someone coming forward to sponsor the event.”
Fiction Out Loud was recorded, so if you’d like to watch the performances, the recordings can be found here.
Callum J. Jones studied English, History, and Journalism at the University of Tasmania. He has written fiction and non-fiction for Tasmanian Times since 2018. He can be traced by the smell of fresh coffee.
Follow him on Twitter (@Callum_Jones_10) and Facebook (@callum.j.jones.creative).
