Rehearsals underway for ground-breaking theatre production, Flood: To the Sea, to be broadcast on BBC Two in August
Rehearsals are underway in Hull for a ground-breaking theatre production that will be broadcast on BBC Two.
Published: 22 June 2017
“It’s incredibly exciting to be working with Hull 2017 and Slung Low to bring Flood to network TV. This ambitious production challenges the audience and asks some important questions, and I’m proud that the BBC is enabling audiences around the UK to experience it.
Flood: To the Sea has been commissioned by Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and will be broadcast on BBC Two in August.
It is the third instalment of Flood, created and produced by acclaimed theatre company Slung Low, which is being told across an entire year, online, live in Hull and on BBC TV.
Directed by Slung Low’s pioneering artistic director Alan Lane and written by award-winning playwright James Phillips, Flood is the Leeds-based company’s most ambitious and experimental project to date. This epic story, told in four compelling parts, began at the start of the year with a girl being raised from the depths of the sea, ahead of an approaching apocalyptic event that will see England engulfed by water.
Presented on a floating stage in Hull’s Victoria Dock, Flood mixes live performance, special effects, film and digital elements to tell a story across an entire year. Each part of this unprecedented piece of storytelling can be experienced as a stand-alone piece, whilst linking to the other parts.
Having begun as an online presentation in February, the first live performances of Flood took place in Hull’s Victoria Dock in in April. The TV production Flood Part Three: To the Sea in August takes the action forward and asks a simple question: what if the fleeing masses from our TV screens and Twitter feeds, in their boats and their orange lifejackets, had English accents? Because displacement is like disease: deep down we think it only happens to other people.
Flood Part Three: To the Sea, is being shown as part of the BBC Arts strand, Performance Live. Following the broadcast, audiences will be able to see the next live instalment, when Flood returns to Victoria Dock in October.
The television production features a cast of 10 professional actors and 11 community cast members and stars Nadia Emam as Gloriana, Marc Graham as Sam, Oliver Senton as the captain, Yusra Warsama as Zeina. Joining them are Emma Bright, Sally Ann Staunton, Joanna Nicks, Naveed Khan, Sarah-Louise Davies and Tony Hind.
Flood Part three: To the Sea was commissioned by Emma Cahusac for BBC Two. It is executive produced by Emma Cahusac from the BBC and produced by Joanna Resnick from Slung Low. For Hull 2017, the team is led by CEO and Director Martin Green, Producer Lindsey Alvis and Head of Production Gareth Hughes.
Emma Cahusac, BBC Executive Producer, says: “It’s incredibly exciting to be working with Hull 2017 and Slung Low to bring Flood to network TV. This ambitious production challenges the audience and asks some important questions, and I’m proud that the BBC is enabling audiences around the UK to experience it.”
Alan Lane, artistic director of Slung Low, says: “We’ve been overwhelmed by how the first half of Flood has been received by audiences live and digitally this year. The chance to take a part of the epic to the rest of the country through Performance Live is something we’re incredibly excited about. For an adventure to be made here in Hull’s Victoria Dock and seen throughout the nation is one of the many opportunities that Hull’s City of Culture has delivered.”
Martin Green, Director Hull 2017, says: “We are very excited to be working with the brilliant Slung Low and the BBC on the latest instalment of Flood, which is one of the most ambitious commissions for Hull 2017. Slung Low have a reputation for asking searching questions about society and the state of the nation and having the BBC on board means many more people across the country will be able to experience it. There are no simple answers, but I hope that as well as an exhilarating theatrical event, it will get people watching it reflecting and debating.”
Flood Part Three: To the Sea will broadcast on BBC Two in August.
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Flood (Hull 2017)
Part One: From the Sea
A short film in which the story begins, when a girl is raised from the depths of the sea. Funded by The Space, a commissioning and development organisation that supports artists and organisations to make the most of the opportunities that digital technology and online distribution afford, it was first shown in February and can be seen at www.hull2017.co.uk/flood
Part Two: Abundance
A live play, in which an apocalypse approaches. Flood: Abundance was performed in Hull at Victoria Dock from 11 to 15 April. The cast included Sarah Louise Davies as Kathryn, Nadia Emam as Gloriana, Marc Graham as Sam, Lisa Howard as Natasha, Naveed Khan as Jack, Rani Moorthy as Johanna and Oliver Senton as Captain.
Part Three: To the Sea
A play broadcast on BBC television, in which the English become refugees. Flood: To the Sea is part of a series of programmes for BBC Arts called Performance Live, a two-year project produced in partnership with Arts Council England and Battersea Arts Centre that will challenge a spectrum of exciting artists, producers and arts organisations to produce their own television programmes.
Flood Part Three: To The Sea is a story set in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event which has seen England engulfed by water. Flood asks a simple question: what if the fleeing masses from our TV screens and Twitter feeds, in their boats and their orange lifejackets, had English accents? Because displacement is like disease: deep down we think it only happens to other people.
Part Four: New World
A live play, in which the world is begun again. To be performed at Victoria Dock in October 2017, with further information to be released.
Flood’s epic adventures come to audiences in Hull and beyond with support from The Space, Arts Council England, BBC Arts and Spirit of 2012.
