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Kent Arts Conference 2026“Art: Starting a Conversation”

A talk-performance

Theatre, Storytelling and Communication

Adeniyi Olusola Morolahun, the Abuletic King

Day Two, Thursday 16 July 2026 · Medway School of Arts, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham

How do theatre and storytelling connect people?

The conference’s poster for his talk

Abstract

A presentation-performance on theatre, storytelling and communication as one way of reaching people. It treats the stage as a space for conversation, using drama, voice, rhythm and the body, and asks the audience to make the meaning with the performer.

§ 1Introduction

He began with who he is: an African percussionist, theatre practitioner and storyteller, master of more than 35 African drums, founder of the Abuletic brand and the Abuletic Tour, and a teacher who has reached more than 10,000 participants in over 50 schools and institutions in Nigeria and the UK.

Fig. 1 The introduction slide

§ 2The stage as a conversation

Then the talk became a performance. Drama, chant and gesture carried the ideas across the room: how stories hold emotion, memory and identity beyond the words that tell them.

Fig. 2 Talk becomes performance

§ 3Audience as co-creators

In the last part the audience left their seats. Delegates stood beside him, took parts and made the story with him, as his final slide put it: the audience as co-creators.

Fig. 3 Audience as co-creators
Fig. 4 The room on Day Two
Fig. 5 Receiving his presenter’s certificate

References and photographs

  1. His presenter page, kartscon.com
  2. The conference overview, kartscon.com
  3. Photographs: Kent Arts Conference (kartscon.com). Supported by Arts Council England.

All 22 photographs:

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