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Walk the Oars

Svend-Erik Engh - storyteller
Neil Sutcliffe - accordian

Danish Storyteller Svend-Erik Engh and Scottish Musician Neil Sutcliffe tell a story inspired by the Viking’s arrival in Scotland, with traditional Nordic tales and Gaelic and Scots songs woven into the narrative.

You are invited onboard a Viking Longship sailing from Jutland in Denmark to Shetland in Scotland. A young man sets off to finish his father’s work: to build a causeway out to Law Ting Holm and share his culture with the Shetlanders.


26 April 2025

Svend-Erik Engh

I tell Viking stories, Norse myths  and  Scandinavian folktales and legends. I was born and raised in Denmark with a Norwegian mother, so these stories are in my blood and bones. But I have a passion for all good stories and have collected many on my world travels over the years. I have tales from Namibia where I worked in the 90s, China where I travelled to in the 80s, as well as many other stories from global traditions. Now that Scotland is my home, I have become deeply inspired by the Scottish history and traditions, in particular its relationship to the Vikings, so I’ve found and created many tales that share the history of Vikings in Scotland.

I give storytelling workshops in schools, community centres, and private events which often include Viking games as well as Viking stories and myths of the Norse Gods. I also giving walking tours of Edinburgh that tell tales of the city’s history and I often add stories of the relationship between Edinburgh and Scandinavia to these walks.

I like my storytelling to be as fun as possible. I am a very physical storyteller thanks to my theatrical training at Odin Theatre in my youth and my audiences always seem to enjoy this.

My first book in English is called ‘Danish Folk Tales’ published by the History Press in 2023. It is a collection of my favourite traditional stories from Denmark.

When I’m not having fun telling or writing stories I’m coaching storytellers and leading seminars and masterclasses to help people become better storytellers. 

For many years I have been working with business leaders helping them to advance their storytelling skills to inspire change in their organisations. 
I have done similar work with university students at Copenhagen Business School where I’ve led courses on how to use stories when talking about academic research.

Throughout the 90s and early 2000s I worked side by side with business coach Steve Denning. in 2009 I published a book called ‘Tell a Story - create interaction’ 

In the early 90s I was also a Folkhøjskole teacher which is a Nordic people’s school which was founded by Grundvig in 1844 and inspired by Norse myths. A Folkhojskole is a school where the students create the curriculum and is unique to the Nordic countries. 

Finally, I am a creator and performer of full length shows that have performed all over Scotland, England and at European festivals.. Since I arrived in Scotland in 2017 I have created 2 shows with storyteller Alice Fernbank. Our signature show is  ‘GIANTS' as we are both big people telling stories about other big people. In 2020 we created 'Orphan James and The Prince of Denmark', about James the VI of Scotland and Shakespeare's Hamlet. With musician Neil Sutcliffe I created and performed 'Walk the Oars' at the Edinburgh Fringe, a Viking story of a young man travelling in a ship to Shetland, and in 2021 and 2022 we created 'Wolves Within' stories of Wolves. Both these shows have toured in England and Scotland.

AlastairSavage
AlastairSavage

Neil Sutcliffe is an accordionist, pianist, and folksinger from Stirling. In 2021 he completed his BMus (Honours) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow, where he studied classical accordion with Djordje Gajic. Since then, he has performed regularly around the UK both as a soloist and with his duo Roo and Neil.

As a singer, Neil has inherited a love of folksong from his parents, and has a broad repertoire of ballads, protest songs, bairn-sangs, and comic songs. He also blends storytelling into his performance, sharing tales of the folk, places and events that inspired tunes and songs.

For the last 6 years Neil has been collaborating with stars of the Scottish storytelling scene to blend music, song, and storytelling. Traditional music, original compositions, and folksongs bring to life the characters, action and drama in folktales and myths – with Neil weaving between music and some storytelling of his own…