Grapes and Grain is the theme of the next storytelling ad improv night from Galway’s Moth and Butterfly group. It will take place on Wednesday, August 21, at 7.30pm, in Rouge Restaurant in Galway City’s Dominick Street, with doors opening at 7pm.

Performers on the night will include the Moth & Butterfly performance crew as well as special guests, and there will be three different styles of storytelling.

Moth style stories are short, true and thematic, and the person telling the story features as a central character.

These can run for eight or nine minutes, but shorter is fine and the ideal story will be about something that had an impact on the teller, or is important to them. It can be funny, but doesn’t have to be.

“Think of it as a story that changed you in some way, however small,” says Órla McGovern of Moth and Butterfly.

Improvised stories will be created on the spot and all will be different, explains Órla.

The Moth and Butterfly Crew will offer different improvisational formats, including ‘Stories From The Hat’ (where the audience picks an object for the story) and ‘Found In Translation’ (where the tellers can improvise and perform bilingually).

Free-fall stories are all other stories that still fit the evening’s theme. For example, it could be a true story about someone else, or a piece of fiction – be that a folk tale or a tall tale.

Storytellers from the audience who want to take part will be selected by ‘names in a hat’ system.

These nights are all about oral storytelling rather than reading from a text.  And while tellers are always welcome, so too are listeners, because they are crucial to the art of storytelling, according to Órla.

Herself a storyteller, writer and performer, she is the inspiration behind Moth and Butterfly, a which is made up professional performers, writers and storytellers.

Moth and Butterfly’s storytelling events attract audience members from around the globe, both in-person and online

Tickets for Grapes and Grain on Wednesday, August 21, are €15 and can be bought on Eventbrite, with the link available on the group’s website, www.mothandbutterflystories.com.

This is an event for people aged 18+ and advance booking is advised.   Food platters, wine and other drinks will be available at Rouge.

Pictured: Niceol Blue in storytelling mode at a Moth and Butterfly evening. PHOTO: ANITA MURPHY.