Live Storytelling Performance
I’m a Scottish oral storyteller and author specialising in Celtic myths and legends. Through my House of Legends Podcast (200k downloads), bestselling books, coaching program and sell-out retreats I have developed a strong global following.
My performance style is both tender and fierce, revelling in the dance from humour to heartbreak to high adventure. I’ve been influenced by energetic perfumers like Michael Meade, Mara Menzies, Michael Harvey and Martin Shaw, as well as Scottish ceilidh-style tellers such as David Campbell, Ruth Kirkpatrick and Tom Muir.
I tell all kinds of stories, but my real love is to take the big, difficult Celtic stories and make them accessible and entertaining without dumbing them down or sanitising them.
I perform solo and in collaboration with musicians and other storytellers.
Event Types
Festivals & Events
Book for me a fixed-length performance at your festival or event. You can choose from the suggested shows below or I can just turn up and tell stories, whatever seems right for your audience. I can work to themes such as environmental stories, Scottish stories, etc.
Retreats
My favourite thing is to forget clock-time and settle into a long story with a hearty group of adventurers. We can spend a day or a weekend together on one story, adding in ceremony, time in nature and some good fireside fun.
Schools
I am available to perform in local schools throughout Scotland during the summer, and in international schools worldwide at any time. Typically I will visit for a day, spending between forty minutes and an hour with each class or year group.
Where & When?
I currently spend winters in Thailand and summers in Scotland.
I’m happy to travel to smaller events in Thailand and the area during the winter, and to smaller festivals and events throughout the UK in the summer.
Exact dates vary; get in touch to confirm.
I can travel to larger events at any time of year.
Music
In Scotland I’m available to perform solo or in collaboration with Sam Gillespie, a phenomenally talented singer and multi-instrumentalist, who is one half of folk duo The Brothers Gillespie. Sam is very busy touring so please book far in advance!
Available Shows
I Would Drink Of Your Heart’s Blood
On a midsummer night on the Isle of Lewis, Griogair leaves the ceilidh house and wanders into the cave-strewn glens. Hearing a voice echoing among the rocks, he encounters a fairy woman who lifts the veil from the hidden world his heart longs for.
Yet there is only so much magic a person can take. The otherworld is not Griogair’s home, and a fairy woman scorned is a tempest that knows no bounds.
I Would Drink of Your Heart’s Blood weaves together Scottish folklore and Greek myth into a unique oral storytelling performance. The show asks why the Otherworld draws us and repels us at once, and what happens when it won’t let us go.
The Cunning of Conall
After Conall and his sons are caught stealing the King of Norway’s prize horse, Conall is challenged to save their lives by telling tales.
Thankfully, Conall is no ordinary farmer. He has fought killer cats, outwitted giants and slept in corpse-stuffed caverns deep underground. This man has a tale or three to tell.
Full of comedy, drama and wild adventure, this Gaelic tale is sure to delight any audience.
The Snake Shirt
A gift turns out to be a curse: a shirt that becomes a black snake. It wraps itself tightly around the prince’s body, and will not let go.
Exiled and utterly alone, the prince sets off into the world in search of healing, as the snake presses ever tighter upon his body and his soul.
The Snake Shirt is a rarely-told Scottish Traveller tale. Eery and unsettling, it offers a glimpse into an imaginal realm not often seen.
The Woman of Flowers
Also known as Math, Son of Mathonwy or The Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion.
One of the grandmother stories of the British Isles, this myth contains layer upon layer of meaning. It explores the use and misuse of magic, and the responsibilities of those who wield power.
