Once a concept album, Jack Dean & Company are touring Hero & Leander, a new outdoor gig-theatre show staged in their own bandstand. Six multi-instrumentalists tell the tragic Greek myth of Hero and Leander, a love story told through songs inspired by folk, indie, sea shanties and choral music. It is a story of borders, of bad rulers, worse weather, and how we keep going when everything is terrible. The six musicians tell the story together through vocals, creating atmosphere and an unpredictable sea with instruments including cello, violin, guitars, trumpet, percussion and an accordion.
Two towns, one rich and one poor, stand separated by a narrow strip of ocean. When the borders close and ships stop sailing between them, two lovers are left stranded on either side. Unphased, Leander takes to swimming across the channel to meet Hero, guided by the light of the lighthouse where she lives. But the jealous and vengeful Hephaestus, carrying an ancient grudge, plots to separate them with a flood like neither town has ever seen.
Writer and company founder Jack Dean said”Hero and Leander is an old, bittersweet story about love, death and the infinite mystery of the sea. We filled the score out with sea shanties, lush indie orchestration and melodic folk. It’s kind of an ode to a disappeared England, and I also think it will speak to anyone who’s done something a bit daft and over-the-top for someone they loved when they were young.”
Jack Dean & Company is a non-profit organisation set up to help portray stories of how things could be. They collaborate with inspiring and exceptional artists to create new work across many artforms. Founded by Jack Dean in 2020, they are committed to offering people across the UK the chance to dream of a different world, whatever the current one may hold.
