Merl Fluin | Performance Storyteller

@merlfluin.bsky.social

122 Followers 158 Following

Vivid, dynamic, and live alive-o, telling stories that spark in the dark. Isle of Wight, UK. She/her

An iron bowl of burning logs on a grass background.
A cartoon fish wearing a cloak and crown, drawn in black against a yellow background.
A headless wooden mannequin sitting on top of a pile of wood chips beside a fence in a a field.
An image of a humanoid figure with a moth's head, antennae and wings. Detail from Henry Fuseli's painting "Titania, Bottom and the Fairies" (1793–94).
A photograph of a copy of Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel “The Farthest Shore” lying on a table beside a mug of tea.
A 17th-century Dutch illustration showing a creature with a dog's body and a bird's head.
A bright full moon reflected in a dark sea with sparkling waves and ripples. Gentle rush of the sea on the soundtrack.
A photograph of a mountain range in Japan, with snow on the peaks in the background, and trees and a river in the foreground.
A white wooden windmill standing behind a hedge against a blue sky.
Twin sepia photos showing a bearded man outside a dilapidated wooden hut, surrounded by tall grass.
A lit hand-held sparkler against a dark background.
The Dead of Winter: Chilling Tales for the Festive Season Tuesday 16 December Better Days Cafe, Ventnor Cafe opens at 6.30pm for hot food, drink and cake Ghostly storytelling starts at 7.15pm Recommended age 16+ Book now: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/storytelling The image on the flier shows a painting of a Victorian parlour lit by an oil lamp, with a ghostly woman playing a piano in the foreground.
THE DIABOLICAL AND THE DAMNED Live storytelling for Halloween A hunted woman flees barefoot through the forest. A black cat drives a man to madness. A princess undergoes a dark transformation. Demonic spirits lurk by a moonlit road . . . Just pray they don't follow you home. Join storytellers Holly Medland and Merl Fluin for a night of spine-chilling tales in the atmospheric setting of Babushka Books, Shanklin, Isle of Wight. Thursday 30 October, doors open 7pm for a 7:30pm start Tickets £10 including snacks and drinks Advance booking essential: phone 07511220038 or 01983 652880 Suitable for age 16+ Background image: a detail from the painting Hell (1485) by Hans Memling, showing a winged and horned devil dancing amid roaring flames.
A big orange moon pouring light across a dark sea.
Three witches in silhouette against a parchment background.
A green landscape with a hill under a blue sky.
An image of the Tibetan Wheel of Life.
Hala told "The Stork Caliph" at the World Storytelling Cafe via Zoom from her home in Gaza in 2020. It’s a wonderful story, and Hala told it brilliantly, adding her own details and embellishments to make it her own, as all great storytellers do. I recorded a video of myself retelling Hala’s story for the Tell A Child In Gaza’s Tale project. The project was started by David Heathfield and Haneen Khaled Jadallah. It’s still ongoing. You can get involved by watching and sharing the videos – or even better, by retelling a Gazan child’s story yourself. Watch Hala tell the story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHdvjjFykiA&list=PLj-mcWeMmSZw63V5abQ4fw3JIITI_S_kS&index=10 Watch a video of me retelling Hala’s story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj-eJVdgbAM&list=PLj-mcWeMmSZw63V5abQ4fw3JIITI_S_kS&index=13 Browse a full playlist of all the project videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj-mcWeMmSZw63V5abQ4fw3JIITI_S_kS Find out more about the project here: https://www.hltmag.co.uk/feb24/tell-a-child-in-gazas-tale (Picture shows a white woman wearing glasses and a headscarf, gesturing towards the camera)
Tenniel's famous illustration of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party
A row of colourful motor scooters parked on a cobbled street. Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons
A white woman in red clothes and hat crouches in front of an audience of adults and children inside a marquee.
A photo of a white woman with short hair and glasses, dressed in red, with one hand raised above her head and the other pointing at the camera.
A black and yellow show poster showing a fish dressed as a king, with the following info: Tales That Topple Tyrants Performance storyteller Merl Fluin weaves wonderful tales about bad kings and how to defy them Sunday 27 July, 6.15–7.15pm The Bijou @ Fringe Village, Ventnor Park General admission £12, under-25s £10, Culture/ Unlimited Pass 2 for 1 Book now: 01983 716767  bit.ly/4jrPjTl
A white woman dressed in red, standing beneath a tree, speaking into a head mic.
An archer shooting an arrow in the air, in black silhouette against an orange background.
A person wearing a carnival mask with wide eyes, shaggy hair and beared in tones of brown and russet.
A photo of colourful wildflowers, with a sunflower at the centre.
A white woman standing under a large tree in front of a seated audience, holding a microphone, one hand outstretched.
A desk inside a bookshop, surrounded by crowded bookshelves and piles of papers. A stuffed fox sits at the desk.
The image shows Malak, a little Palestinian girl, dressed up as an old woman, with glasses and a walking stick, sitting against a white background. It’s a video still from the Zoom recording (shared here with permission). Malak was joining the session from her home in Gaza in 2021. Tell A Child In Gaza’s Tale is a project where storytellers retell the tales told by Malak and other Gazan children. It’s a way of amplifying the children’s voices and honouring their creativity and humanity. The project was started by David Heathfield and Haneen Khaled Jadallah. It’s still ongoing. You can get involved by watching and sharing the videos – or even better, by retelling a child’s story yourself. Watch Malak tell the story here (she starts about 30 minutes in): https://www.youtube.com/live/By6s8CmREXQ Browse a full playlist of all the project videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj-mcWeMmSZw63V5abQ4fw3JIITI_S_kS Find out more about the project here: https://www.hltmag.co.uk/feb24/tell-a-child-in-gazas-tale
A video still showing the head and shoulders of a white woman in a red top against a green background, with a tree ornament behind her.
An illustration showing a green and brown tree against a white background, with the following info above and beneath: An evening of traditional storytelling by the Island Storytellers UNDER THE TREE Friday 4 July Meet 7pm at Nortwood Park, St Mary's Road entrance Tickets £5 Book your ticket at: Ticketsource.co.uk/TheIslandStorytellers The image also has a white, purple and yellow Biosphere Festival logo in the bottom left corner.
A photo of a young white woman dressed as an elf, with magical sigils emanating from her fingertips in red and green light.
The roof of a medieval barn, photographed from inside, showing beautiful wooden beams and struts festooned with fairy lights.
A white woman with glasses and a shaved head standing on a railway platform with the sea behind her.
A thangka painting of Green Tara, a green-skinned female bodhisattva, seated on a lotus throne.
A colourful magazine cover depicting a Tolkien-style volcano and bearing the magazine title "Urthona".
A cluster of small blue flower-shaped lights, with a human face dimly discernible behind it against a blue background.
A medieval image in brown and yellow parchment tones, showing a bearded man in tunic and hose. His face is in profile turned to the left, he is grinning and holding something in his left hand, and his legs are bent as if he is dancing.
A pale wooden lap harp, on a darker wooden background.
Folk art image of a flower in brightly coloured stained glass, with multicoloured petals and large green leaves against a swirly blue background.
Magical shirt made from nettles, Muzeum Novojičínska. Photo by Petra Vidomusová. Licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
A paddock of donkeys.
A photo of wood carving depicting a red demon draped in green cloth.
A stone tower at the top of a green hill, against a blue sky.
The sea beneath a blue sky, with distant chalk cliffs to the left.
An 1840s daguerrotype showing two older white men, one sitting at a desk with a book in his hands, the other standing beside him.
A plastic doll dressed in woollen clothes, sitting on a dark floral surface, its face half-hidden in shadow.
A huge pile of books heaped on the floor in front of bookshelves containing yet more books.
A painted illustration showing a witch riding a broomstick against a green background, with various other fairy tale figures behind her.
A 19th-century black-and-white image of the witch Baba Yaga riding her pestle and mortar through the forest.
A 19th-century painting showing a white woman with a halo riding a dragon across a body of water.
A cloth-covered shrine decorated with flowers, candles and Buddha statues.
A leafless tree decorated with baubles, standing in a green field.
Books, pens and yellow Post-it notes against a white background.
A white woman with close-cropped hair and glasses standing against a cream background, with one hand raised.
A 19th-century painting showing a pile of coffins in a crypt, with a human arm emerging from one of the coffins.