Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 14/99) - Barely off the stage after completing the run of Fiddler on the Roof, Leslie Robbins and Paul Conway have swung into their own show -- a series of storytelling concerts.

Sitting across from Robbins in bright daylight and watching her animated figure is an experience in itself. It's easy to imagine that a night of listening to her and Conway in a theatre space has more in store than simply listening to a story told. Her expressive voice promises a dynamic performance of depth, subtlety and style.

"Paul just latched onto this Crab story," says Robbins, explaining some of the stories.

(Crab, a dog in Shakespeare's Two Gentleman of Verona, figures in two speeches by Launce, his owner.)

"It's funny, funny." says Robbins. "I think it's the diamond jewel in our program. Paul has some beautiful pieces, some very beautiful pieces. The Loon's Necklace, in which he includes a piece of Mozart as the loon's song. And another story called Peter Kagan and the Wind, in which he includes a beautiful little lament from Porgie and Bess."

Conway has also become enamoured of British poet Ted Hughes' book of poetry called Crow. On Friday he will perform an excerpt called Crow's Elephant Song.

Robbins explains that while Conway's material is "quite sophisticated on a kind of literary high level, mine is simple, folk material."

Conway also performs The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe's dark tale, and Blind MacNair by Thomas Raddall.

"It's a brilliant piece," Robbins says, adding that her stories are a little lighter.

"My story that I love the most is a tale about Owl, who thought that he was ugly, but the girl loved him. And then he has a cousin Rooster, who is beautiful, wildly dressed, sociable..."

She continues the story, her voice rising and falling with the plot, eyes flashing. She barely moves and I'm mesmerised. Come performance time, she'll also be singing and dancing.

Robbins has been a professional storyteller for 20 years. She's toured across Canada and has performed for national radio for years.

The adult repertoire, more complex and darker than their repertoire for children, takes place tonight at 8 p.m. at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre.

For the children, mums and dads too, a special matinee performance takes place on Saturday at 2 p.m., same place.

Tickets are on sale at the Birchwood Gallery, $10 for Friday, $5 for Saturday.