A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction at Shakespeare North Playhouse
Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor
A first-of-its-kind theatre production comes to Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Cockpit Theatre this May. A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction is a dark, humorous one-woman show about climate change, powered by bicycles.
A dark, humorous one-woman show about climate change, powered by bicycles.
Written by Miranda Hall and co-produced by the Barbican and Headlong, A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction has been described as “a bold experiment in eco theatre-making”. The show opened at the Barbican and will be performed in Merseyside as part of its UK tour. However, the show also uses a pioneering new touring model, the first of its kind in the UK: the play will tour, while its people and materials do not. A vital investigation into making theatre more sustainable, the show will be staged by a different local creative team and feature a different performer at every venue it visits.
Most interestingly, in addition to the production being staged sustainably, the show’s content also tackles environmental themes. The narrative focuses on Naomi, a young theatre worker who is staging her own play about climate change and the destruction of our environment. Billed as “part ritual, part battle cry”, A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction takes its audience on a journey to discover what it means to be human during an era of man-made extinction.
When the play was staged in Canada, theatre critic Savannah Stewart said, “For a show about mass death, it expertly avoids plunging its audience into insurmountable existential dread. The message it leaves the viewer with is one of hope, not despair.”
An innovative exploration to reimagine theatre in a time of climate crisis.
The show forms part of an innovative exploration to reimagine theatre in a time of climate crisis. The concept has been developed as a way to reduce the theatre industry’s impact on the environment while also preventing the need for transportation. The show comes with a ‘touring score’ (a set of guidelines) that states that the show should be off-grid, powered by 10 cyclists onstage, who pedal throughout the performance to generate the energy to cover the performance, with locally produced set and costumes and a community choir.
The show invites a community to imagine an alternative way of creating and experiencing theatre.
We love that this ground-breaking model of performance allows a new local team of theatre-makers to put a new twist on the show. A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction will be assembled by a local crew in Merseyside with Northern actor Shareesa Valentine (Forgotten Voices) set to perform the show, alongside a new director, choir and creative team.
Hopeful and bold, A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction encourages opens a discourse around environmental responsibility, green policy and theatre-making, and invites a community to imagine an alternative way of creating and experiencing theatre.
