Captain Skimp

3x ATLFringe Award Winner:

•Best Sound and Musical Effects

•Audience Choice Award Winner

• Artists Favourite Award Winner

“Part audiobook, part an animated film brought to life. Uniquely expressive music that acts as a second narrator.”—Official US Judging Panel Feedback.

Twelve-year-old Nils lives in the coastal town of Svendborg in Denmark with his sensible but unremarkable parents. His life is orderly and predictable, and excitement is in short supply—until his eccentric grandfather, who lives in the family’s garden shed, gives Nils an unexpected birthday present.

The gift is a ship. Well, not a ship exactly, but the materials to build one: weathered planks, timber, and an idea that borders on the impossible.

Reluctantly, Nils’s parents agree to let him and his grandfather work on the project in the garden, certain it will be short-lived. They assume the scale of the task will overwhelm him and that the ship will never be finished.

They are wrong.

As the vessel takes shape, Nils discovers a determination he didn’t know he possessed, and what begins as an unlikely construction project becomes the first step toward a life-changing adventure.

The full score of the Captain Skimp series grew out of more than 15 years of live, improvised storytelling with children aged 4-12. Through his part time work in the education field Nielsen recorded over 300 sessions, letting characters, worlds, and stories emerge naturally through play and interaction with the children. This improvisational process became the creative backbone of the series. As Nielsen says, “I didn’t write the story—the characters did.”

Jonas Præst Nielsen is a Danish composer and musician who later expanded into writing and storytelling. His musical background shapes the series’ distinctive music, rhythms and cinematic sound universe. For his Cinematic Audiobooks, he has received several grants from the Danish Arts Foundation, supporting high end productions with dense artistic authenticity.