A Hearty Stew Indeed! An Afternoon of Stories and Music

Olly Perry brings A Hearty Stew Indeed! An Afternoon of Stories and Music to The Salisbury Museum on Saturday 16 January 2027. It's an afternoon of storytelling and music, with fairy tales held together by musical interludes, all taking place in The King's Room.

The performance weaves together a string of stories: mythical birds, vain and cruel kings, magic drums, vengeful fairies, bewitched princesses, talking horses, goblin cobblers and raven kings. Perry tells them one after another, with the musical interludes acting as the thread that ties the whole thing together. It's a mix of the traditional and the new, and the title gives you a fair idea of the sort of thing to expect — a hearty, slow-cooked collection of tales rather than a single, linear plot.

Perry himself is a Wiltshire local who lives on a dairy farm. He spent years as a professional copywriter before turning his attention to fairy stories, and he now writes new ones and adapts traditional ones for the storytelling stage. He plays several instruments, which explains the musical side of the afternoon, and spends his free time searching for lost springs and gardens. The storytelling is his focus, but the music is woven right into the performance.

The setting adds its own weight. The Salisbury Museum is a city museum that draws on the region's deep history, from Stonehenge finds to the relics of Salisbury's ancient guilds, and it has recently opened new galleries and achieved VisitEngland's Gold Standard. The King's Room is inside The King's House, at 65 The Close, and it's accessible only via stairs. Tickets are £10 for members and £12 for non-members.