:focus(260x233:261x234))
Prof Steve Waters’ new climate crisis drama tells the story of a family farm’s struggles through three future scenarios and creates a collaborative space for discussion on this urgent topic.
Watch Prof Waters introduce his vital and compelling play.
The origins and setting of the play
Waters has been dramatising climate change and ecological matters for almost 20 years, beginning with The Contingency Plan in 2009 and more recently in Song of the Reeds. “Working on that made me think a lot about the role of farming in this debate about the biodiversity, extinction and climate crisis. Farming seems somehow at the centre of this,” explains Prof Waters. Additionally, conversations with philosopher and colleague Rupert Read, whom Waters credits with the title of his latest play, about future scenarios of collapse resulted in “a play which was several plays,” says Waters.
The devastating effects of the climate crisis on soil health, leading to disastrous ramifications for the characters and humanity as a whole, is the focus of each 'playlet'. The first of the scenarios, 'Phoenix', begins as rain hammers down on a coastal family farm in North Norfolk. Martin and Becky – two of the three protagonists – listen to the storm, repeatedly refreshing the weather page hoping for better news which never arrives. Instead, flooding devastates the farm and the couple are left to pick up the pieces. This future vision is followed by one of drought and one which offers a more hopeful solution.
Soil and the climate crisis
Through each of the powerful scenarios, the play confronts the audience, forcing them to consider the importance and value of one thing taken for granted by the wider public but vital for farmers: soil.
“The intensity and density of life within soil, particularly the six inches immediately below our feet, is critical to the persistence of the human race.”
Through soil, a symbol of humanity’s treatment of our environment, Waters highlights the reality and effects of climate change. For Martin and Becky, soil impacts their everyday life and livelihood; for those of us once removed from farmers, its health is more vital than we may know. “Soil is life” Waters argues. “The intensity and density of life within soil, particularly the six inches immediately below our feet, is critical to the persistence of the human race.”
)
The focus on farm and soil brings the climate crisis into a world that audiences can access, and through these devices he conveys its immediacy: “We tend to think of the climate crisis as being down the road, but people have woken up to the fact that it’s arrived very dramatically ahead of schedule,” explains Waters. “What people may not be considering is how the unpredictability of weather systems will affect food supplies. We consider what will happen if it becomes a bit hotter, a bit wetter, but what happens if it just becomes unrecognisable very quickly? Agriculture in this country may become unrecognisable. Farmers cannot be left on their own to deal with this.”
An experimental three-act structure
The three ‘mini-plays’ of Phoenix, Dodo, Butterfly present alternate scenarios, each of them intriguing and devastating in their own way, but Waters explains that the sequencing was not always set: “I thought, what happens if we let the audience decide the running order? But I’m increasingly of the view that you cannot end it on 'Dodo' [the most devastating scenario], you have to end it on 'Butterfly' [the most hopeful] because it’s not only the most responsible ending, but also the most artistically coherent.” This experimentation speaks to Waters’ urge to engage his audience; to involve each of them and take the form beyond passive entertainment to discourse and, hopefully, action. “I think a play should make people feel happier, or at least more alert and alive rather than low in their chairs,” says Waters, and for Phoenix, Dodo, Butterfly, a level of alertness at the end of the play is rewarded by the continuation of the discussion.
Engaging the audience
Waters maximises the potential of the play by following each performance with lively debate. One performance at the invitation of a group of farmers (The Yield Network) prompted a fascinating insight into the section of society that Waters has sensitively represented on stage. As protagonists in the land management issue, their responses were insightful and impactful.
“The changing climate and the UK government’s response to the changing climate is already affecting farming."
Panellist Abby Maynard, UEA Environmental Sciences graduate and Agricultural Consultant at Brown & Co., recognised the value of the post-performance debate. “I hope the panel brought the lived experiences of the Norfolk agricultural community into the discussion” says Abby. Commenting on the play’s focus on the future of farming and the plights of farmers themselves, she notes that “the changing climate and the UK government’s response to the changing climate is already affecting farming. Forward thinking farms will need to consider how to position themselves to make the most of the changes that are coming.”
"Farmer’s find themselves stumbling onto the stage as heroes or villains."
The panellists suggested that while farmers may see the effects of the climate crisis, they are unfortunately hobbled in tackling it by the need to survive. Farming, Waters has discovered, requires you to “put your money in the ground and see what happens. [Farmers] live by the cycles of the year and the fluctuations of the market. It’s great that we have grants that help encourage farmers in the right direction, but it’s clear that isn’t quite working when what we need is a very quick transition. Quite frankly, farmer’s find themselves stumbling onto the stage as heroes or villains.”
)
"What have we done to our birds? What have we done to our flying insects? What have we done to the species of these isles, the most nature depleted country in the world?"
Ultimately, the global biodiversity crisis looms throughout Phoenix, Dodo, Butterfly. “It seems to be about farming,” says Waters, “but it’s more stemming from my previous questions: what have we done to our birds? What have we done to our flying insects? What have we done to the species of these isles, the most nature depleted country in the world? Those are the real questions.”
Waters notes that “the play ends in a very emotional space and you need to take a breath before the discussion, but in the panel, and in the audience feedback, the resonance was very strong – sometimes with the climate change material, but also with the intergenerational conflict.” This aspect of the play – the ever-present tension between Martin and his daughter – reiterates the universal message that Waters is conveying: the climate crisis is affecting us all. For older generations, “change becomes more and more difficult to contemplate”, argues Waters, “and yet is becoming more and more imperative to do.” For younger generations, the scenarios are very real. They encapsulate their widespread anxieties, but also suggest that collaboration and communication are the first steps towards change.
)
){kind=icon}
){kind=icon}
){kind=icon}