Billy Teare - tells tall tales:

Originally from Ballycarry, now based in Larne, (County Antrim, Northern Ireland) Billy Teare has become one of the most popular and successful storytelling/folk artists around.

Billy has appeared on stage, TV, the big screen and radio in a wise range of guises. From his teens he honed his audience skills in a career on the tough Belfast comedy circuit.

In the past thirty years, he has used his humour and stage presence to tell stories in early years settings, schools, libraries, community groups, council and cultural venues, as well as being a featured artist at ALL the major folk and storytelling festivals around the world. (Including the far reaches of the Yukon).

Billy incorporates songs, music, magic, juggling and a whole host of theatre skills, to enliven his world wide feast of modern and traditional tales, monologues, rhymes, chants and audience participation.

Along with his numerous stage appearances as a storyteller, Billy's work in schools, or with learners of any age or ability, utilises the sequential thread of narrative, as an accelerated learning tool. In his storytelling role, he is unique in the educational area of critical thinking and recall and it has proved highly effective for students and teachers alike.

Billy is currently working on a book, containing his ’Tell a Tale Toolkit’© ® ™ techniques. He has also worked collaboratively with various other artists and groups, including BBC Northern Ireland and the Verbal Arts Centre, Derry.

Billy was the international teller in residence 2008, at the National Storytelling Centre, Jonesborough, Tennessee and continues adding to over three hundred appearances at global folk, storytelling, literary, arts and library festivals.

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Recently Professor Mike Wilson, Author of ’Storytelling and Theatre’ and Head of Research at Glamorgan University, invited Billy, to contribute to an academic paper and conference on aspects of ‘Jack tales‘. In 2007 and 2008 Professor Wilson also had Billy conduct programmes of storytelling at the University for school children and as a champion of his work has the following to say on Billy’s innovative approach:

"In addition to being a gifted storyteller and talented performer, Billy also has a rare ability to enthuse and engage his audience in a playful exploration of language. He takes an infectious and mischievous delight in subverting established modes and so enables children to interrogate the creative possibilities of words on a rollercoaster of joyful discovery.”

Storytelling and Theatre by Michael Wilson - Contemporary Professional Storytellers and their Art.

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