An epic adventure from Hull, UK City of Culture 2017

More about this project

The story of what happened when the world was destroyed and how the people who lived tried to make it new again.

Flood was an extraordinary year-long epic commissioned for Hull 2017 that unfolded online, live in Hull and on BBC television. It was created by the ground-breaking Leeds-based theatre company Slung Low, directed by artistic director Alan Lane and written by award-winning playwright James Phillips.

Flood was their most ambitious and experimental project to date; mixing live performance, special effects, film and digital elements to tell a story across an entire year. The story was told throughout four compelling parts. People seeing it were able to experience each section as a stand-alone piece, or follow the entire series with each part enriching and linking to every other.

Set in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event, which saw England engulfed by water, the play asked a simple question: what if the fleeing masses from TV screens and Twitter feeds, in their boats and their orange lifejackets, had English accents? A reimagining of the Flood myth, it told the story of how the nation could be destroyed by a global flood and tsunami wave.

Presented on a floating stage in Hull’s Victoria Dock, those left fight for survival.

Part One: From the Sea – was a short film in which the story begins, when a girl is raised from the depths of the sea.

One day it starts to rain and no-one knows why. And it doesn’t stop. Far out on the North Sea a fisherman raises a girl in his net, miraculously alive from the deep sea. Is she one of the migrants now washing up on English shores? Or someone sent for some higher purpose?

Flood part one - by Slung Low as part of Hull, UK City of Culture 2017
Screened in airstream caravans across Hull, Flood part one

Catch up with the rest of the story…

Alan Lane, artistic director of Slung Low, said:

“Working with Hull 2017 has allowed us to imagine a larger, more engaging adventure for audiences than ever before. Flood is theatrically and politically the most ambitious work we’ve ever made and the chance to tell that story in Hull throughout this most thrilling year for the city is something we’re really excited about.”

Martin Green, Director Hull 2017, said:

“It is wonderful to be working with Slung Low, one of the most brilliant companies in the UK…. Flood embarks us on an extraordinary journey, which over the next months will stimulate, challenge and ask questions of the audience in an epic piece of storytelling.”

For more on Flood read our case study Flood and Flames: telling big stories in Hull

About this artist

Slung Low make adventures for audiences outside conventional theatre spaces, each with a powerful, moving story at its heart.