‘Undertow Overflow’ is a brand-new collaboration between multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Amy Duncan and writer/director Ben Harrison. It combines their love of simple narratives with a strong emotional undertow. The title of the show comes from a joining of the title of Amy’s album ‘Undercurrents’ with Ben’s short story collection ‘Overflow’.
This special performance will be an openhearted exploration of the strangeness of human love and loss, filled with vivid and poetic imagery. The intended audience will come from lovers of music as well as literature, and the curious from Ben’s theatre community.
Amy has released 8 albums so far and Ben’s work as a performer of his own stories is a relatively recent development in his practice. After a year of reading at the monthly ‘From The Horse’s Mouth’ events at Summerhall in Edinburgh, Ben was asked to headline the event.
Amy and Ben will entwine their practices to create an evening of emotionally charged, surprising and uplifting performance.
They are inspired by such artists as Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman who toured the world with a suite of songs and stories woven together.
Amy Duncan and Ben Harrison comment on the show: “We believe that there is a synergy between our work, and that the performance will be a refreshing blend for audiences who may have been to gigs, or to spoken word evenings, but rarely a mixture of both. We are so excited to be working together at last having known each other for so long since the days of Swelling Meg in the mid-Nineties.
“We aim to offer an evening exploring love and loss and the strange beauty of human relationship, with laughter and tears along the way.”
For Ben this is a real departure into the world of being onstage after over thirty years as a successful theatre director. His last professional engagement as a performer was nearly twenty-five years ago.
For ‘Undertow Overflow’ Ben has recruited leading and multi-award-winning director Jemima Levick to direct his performance. Ben and Jemima are established colleagues and friends since she was assistant director on the multi-award-winning Grid Iron/ National Theatre of Scotland show Roam in 2006.
6th Oct – Summerhall, Edinburgh 8.00pm – www.summerhall.co.uk/sh-event/undertow-overflow/
The show will tour throughout Scotland. For more details see: https://www.undertowoverflow.com/
