Not sure about folk club audiences not being used to storytelling. A lot of the larger festivals include storytellers in the line up who are placed in concerts alongside musicians and singers, so it isn't an unknown phenomeon at all. Some I enjoy very much. Others just seem to have an unfortunate manner of presentation which can make me feel like I'm being talked to as a child, even if the story being told is an 'adult' one.
I guess a lot of people prefer to be offered the chance to think by someone telling a tale simply, rather than having the point hammered home by over dramatization or desparate attempts to force participation/reaction from them. The best storytellers I've heard are like the best singers. After a while you realise you are so wrapped up in the story you forget the presenter is there!