The Moth Melbourne StorySlam

A bearded male stands at the microphone screaming. He is reenacting the moments when an Indonesian nurse discovered a long, black worm curled up his nose. This unwanted pet had lived in the cavity of his nostril for some months before the doctor extracted it with long tweezers. Casted in golden downlights, the audience shriek and laugh as the storyteller holds up the specimen in a urine sample container – a reminder of the strange encounter.

This animated storyteller is one of the ten sharing their five minute tales at The Moth’s StorySlam. They are not professionals, but ordinary people with extraordinary stories drawn at random from a canvas bag. Tonight’s theme is Strange Encounters and the smorgasbord of anecdotes range from a vegetarian road-kill opportunist, being mugged by Latin prostitutes in Costa Rica, a German who faked his own death by painting his face with shoe polish and more.

The audience watch in rapture, in five minutes you can be taken back in time, to another country, into someone else’s home, into someone else’s mind. It’s often surprising, emotional, uplifting and heartbreaking. Instead of being illuminated by the fire’s glow like our ancestors once told stories, here the oral storytellers stand on stage in a trendy bar in Brunswick at this monthly sold-out event on a Monday night.

Yes, you read that correctly – a Monday night story-telling event that sells-out.

The Moth’s popularity and cult-like following began in the New York in 1997, where it started as a humble story-telling event dedicated to the art and craft of sharing true stories and human experiences. The Moth has since transformed into an incredibly successful podcast and is now downloaded 30 million times per year. These stories are shared across 500 public radio stations and have now expanded into events around the world, including Melbourne’s own monthly StorySlams.

Each month there is a different theme with new storytellers and tales to share. The rules are simple: it must loosely follow the theme, be no longer than 5 minutes and no reading materials can be used. Although it is a competition (the finalists will perform at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival StorySlam Final later in August), winning isn’t the sole purpose. The purpose is to listen, to dissolve social barriers, engage, be entertained and to look at the world with a fresh set of eyes.

You certainly won’t look at a Monday night the same way again.

Upcoming Melbourne Moth StorySlams:

Love Hurts
Howler, 7–11 Dawson Street, Brunswick
Monday February 8, 7pm–10pm
themoth.org/events?category=51&month=2016-02

Lost
Howler, 7–11 Dawson Street, Brunswick
Monday March 7, 7pm–10pm
themoth.org/events?category=51&month=2016-03

Jokers
Howler, 7–11 Dawson Street, Brunswick
Monday April 7, 7pm–10pm
themoth.org/events?category=51&month=2016-04

Kin
Howler, 7–11 Dawson Street, Brunswick
Monday May 2, 7pm–10pm
themoth.org/events?category=51&month=2016-05

Borders
Howler, 7–11 Dawson Street, Brunswick
Monday June 6, 7pm–10pm
themoth.org/events?category=51&month=2016-06