In My Head

An extraordinary experience of ordinary, everyday sound.
A one woman dance theatre work with original sound design, poetry & text. A personal & universal exploration of everyday sound & hearing loss.

…a dancer wrestles with sound as it misbehaves in ways you wouldn’t expect. Sometimes it engulfs you & other times it’s on the tip of your tongue. It’s flirtatious, it hooks you into stories & sends you on your not so merry way to a corner of a room where it’s quiet, & you’re alone.

Hearing loss is a lonely business. 1 in 5 of us have it, but there’s no telltale sign or clue like glasses perched on the end of your nose to give away the secret hearing loss can sometimes feel like. You have to be bold & tell people about it; otherwise, it’s invisible & kept close. Close & quiet.

How do you know whether a sound is real if you don’t hear the same sound as the person next to you?
Can you believe your own ears?
How do you trust that what you hear is real?
And if you don’t, how do you keep yourself safe?

Performed by Emily Alden & created in collaboration with sound designer & composer Daniel Hayes (Alesandra Seutin, Tony Adigunn, Caroline Bowditch).

News for 2026

In My Head is produced by Impossible Producing and will be shared as a work in progress in early March 2026, part of the Made in Cornwall showcase at the FIA Fest (Falmouth International Arts Festival).

For more information and to book tickets, click here.

All images by Steve Tanner - work in progress sharings 2019 Kneehigh Presents programme during The Asylum season.

Early R&D Phase supported by a Developing Your Creative Practice grant.

The project’s early research and development was supported by Arts Council England through a Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) award, alongside support from Kneehigh Theatre, AMATA at Falmouth University and Hall for Cornwall, where Emily was an Associate Artist from 2018–2023. Emily spent two intensive research weeks (February and May) working with sound designer Daniel Hayes, theatre director and BSL interpreter Sue MacLaine on the initial conception dramaturgy, and direction, and a small team of artists. Together they investigated new approaches to sound, movement, and composition, playing, experimenting, and digging into both thematic and technical possibilities.

This research was developed largely from the remote and distinctive environment of the Kneehigh Barns. The coastline, vocal work, and both natural and composed sound became central tools in uncovering the work’s underlying themes and compositional language.

The initial idea was seeded through Hall for Cornwall’s Creation Space programme (2018), which offers Cornwall-based artists time and space to nurture new collaborations and ideas. During this period, Emily began developing the work with actress and musician Catherine Lake.

You can read more about the R&D phase in Emily’s blog post reflecting on working at the Kneehigh Barns here.
Early work in progress sharing’s were presented in summer 2019 as part of the Kneehigh Presents programme during The Asylum season.

Alongside the live work, the project also generated an audio “sister project,” Surrounded By Sound, created during the 2020 lockdowns. Developed from binaural coastal recordings in Falmouth with actor, writer, and theatre-maker Ciaran Clarke, the project was supported by FEAST’s Re-ignition Fund and has since been accessed by listeners globally.

All images by Steve Tanner - R&D at the Kneehigh Barns