The Crick Crack Club is primarily interested in the performance and oral retelling of traditional narrative material – fairy tales, folklore mythology, legends and epics – and the content of the vast majority of performances it promotes is based on traditional stories to a greater or lesser extent.
A list of international artists was drawn up, including Louise Bennett, Vi Hilbert, Abbi Patrix, Eamon Kelly, Seref Tasliova and Punaram Nishad.
However, questions arose as to whether there would be enough performance storytellers in the UK with the experience and stage presence to hold large adult audiences for a whole evening with appropriate material.
In addition, the Norfolk storyteller, Hugh Lupton, ran a successful monthly branch of the club during this time at the King of Hearts Arts Centre in Norwich.
Ben Haggarty, the Crick Crack Club's Artistic Director co-directed Beyond the Border from 1993 to 2005 with specific responsibility for choosing the storytellers, while David Ambrose selected the musicians, puppeteers and other theatrical entertainers.
As a study of a reviving art form based on the oral tradition, the material ranges from the raw and experimental to the polished and formally presented.
[12] It features over 220 voices, including that of Hugh Lupton, TUUP, Sally Pomme Clayton, Ben Haggarty, Abbi Patrix and Laura Simms, as well as superb examples of some of the world's greatest surviving epic singing traditions such as Central Indian Pandavani, Rajasthani Pabuji Ki Phad, Kyrgyz Manas singing (singers of the epic of Manas), the work of Turkish Ashiks and Bangladeshi Palagan and Patuagan performers.