The Gate presents Scenes from the Climate Era At The Playground
As a searingly hot summer punctuated by fires and flooding draws to an end, people are discussing the personal impact of climate change like never before. Scenes from the Climate Era by David Finnigan draws together conversations on this topic in a timely production, playing at the Playground Theatre later this month. We were delighted to catch up with director Atri Banerjee, (pictured above) who is also Artistic Lead at the Gate Theatre, to ask about the production.
Hi Atri. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us today. Firstly, can you talk about the form of the show and how you’ve leaned into it to comment on the climate crisis?
Scenes from the Climate Era is made up of several short vignettes that swing from comedy to tragedy to everything in between: none of them are longer than a few minutes.
In the first scene, for example, a young couple contemplate the ethics of having children. This is quickly followed by two scientists in the ’80s arguing about whether a new computer model can accurately measure the Greenhouse Effect. We meet bankers and lawyers, activists and diplomats, friends and lovers and ordinary folk, trying to make sense of it all; moving from the past to the present and into the future.
I’ve always been fascinated by kaleidoscopic plays like this one: Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information, for example, or Alice Birch’s [BLANK]. As a director, you can’t help but be enticed by the challenge. David’s text is different to those plays as every scene is concerned with a single issue, but its form is totally suited to the content.
It’s been argued that standard narrative forms are unworkable when writing about the climate crisis. We’re used to beginnings, resolutions, and measurable unknowns. Given that climate change takes so many forms, implicates and affects so many people, and has no clear ending, to try and contain it in a traditional narrative structure is perhaps impossible. Through the form of the play itself, we’re being asked to think about the conversation around climate differently.
When I first encountered it, I loved that the play felt genuinely educational but also deeply entertaining. There is a lot of humour in David’s writing, so the evening never feels didactic. Its dizzying structure captures the way most of us feel when contemplating this massive issue. And it’s a pleasure to see four performers multi-role so rapidly and variously over the course of the show. In their playing of characters from so many different parts of the world, we’re led to understand how this is a shared challenge we’re all facing. It feels like a celebration of theatre and the art of acting itself.
Drawing together the global and the local, personal, what voices are represented here?
The play is particularly interested in people at the front-line; from scientists and politicians working at the very top level, to people more at the coalface (no pun intended). Engineers, for example, or activists. There is, however, plenty of space given to ordinary people: a woman in her home in rural Essex; friends gathering for a dinner party; a client in a therapist’s office. Each of these characters is trying to find a way forward in this new world. The play travels from China, to Antarctica, to the South Atlantic Ocean, to Wales and Scotland and London.
David also adapts the play in each country it’s performed to reflect the local context. In the original Australian production, for example, there was a lot more material about First Nations and Indigenous communities (some of which is preserved in our version). It’s important when we think about climate justice, and the way so many voices have been marginalised, to try and make sure everyone has a fair say.
Obviously, no single play can capture every voice. But Climate Era takes a sample of various people from different walks of life to present a community. Even if you don’t see yourself in one character, I’m certain you will in another. That, I feel, is the play’s great success.
Can you tell us about the cast, who appear to be from a range of cultures and backgrounds? I’m excited to see Peyvand Sadeghian on the list, who is herself an outstanding, neurodivergent creative.
Peyvand (below left) is so brilliant! She is a wonderful theatre-maker and her offers are always so rich. The whole cast, in fact, have all approached this material with the spirit of devisers; they’re all super committed, and it’s a joy to work with them. When you’re making a show that leans more to the experimental, like this one, a director needs performers willing to get stuck in, solving problems as an ensemble.
It felt really important that our casting was as representative as possible. So, with our casting director Nadine Rennie, we met performers of various backgrounds and lived experiences. While we only had space for four actors, we cast a group with several different heritages. Peyvand, Chinese Malaysian and Iranian; Miles, Caribbean; Ziggy, Polish; Harriet (who was in the original Sydney production of this play), white Australian. So, loosely, East, West, North, and South. That wasn’t part of the criteria when we were casting, but it feels appropriate that it’s worked out that way!
Concurrently, you’re streaming a short film This Room, Now by Chris Thorpe – can you tell us about this project and how it fits alongside the play?
I worked with Chris a few times when I was affiliated with the Royal Exchange Theatre. The first time was as Associate Director on The Mysteries, which we took on tour around the north of England, and the second time on a show with the Exchange Young Company called Utopia – which, actually, wasn’t far-off thematically from Climate Era. Chris helped with some text in that show. He’s a wonderful writer and maker, who has been a huge inspiration and mentor to me and so many artists.
We commissioned This Room, Now, in the first instance, for a fundraising event for the Gate, where we launched our new model as a producing company. We asked Chris and two other writers (Aaron Kilercioglu and Sonali Bhattacharyya) to respond to the Gate’s re-vitalised mission of international storytelling, “stories from beyond our borders”. Chris came up with the story of a twelve-year-old girl fascinated by geography, watching online videos from across the world, paying particular attention to the characters on the sidelines, rather than the protagonists. One voice tells the story of the girl, the other voice recites city names from every country in the world, generally a city that is not the best-known.
It was an articulation of how theatre can shine a light on unrepresented stories, and how the whole world can exist in “this room, now”. That’s the closest link to Climate Era. As an international theatre, it felt like both these projects (and the migrant playwriting prize we’re collaborating on with Woven Voices) were about the whole world over; what better way to think about internationalism than that?
There’s also a nice coincidence in the fact that David and Chris know each other. Chris was one of the people who helped David with the first draft of this play in Sydney. There’s an artistic consonance: you can feel the influence of Chris’ writing in the text.
You came to the Gate in 2023 as Creative Associate and are now Artistic Lead for the company. How has this role evolved, and what does it mean for what’s next for the Gate?
When I first joined, it was initially a period of 40 days over a few months, to help develop a new business plan and think about the role of artistic leadership in the absence of an Artistic Director. I helped the organisation shift into a producing company, rather than a building-based theatre, and I also felt very strongly that the Gate should fulfil its founding mission as an international theatre (especially at a point when the world is so fractious).
As the role evolved, it started to encompass much of what an Artistic Director does: taking a lead on programming, for example, or connecting with artists and artist development, and getting involved in fundraising and relationship building with stakeholders. It made sense to change the title. The important distinction is that I have periods where I’m more involved and periods where I’m less: I’m still a practicing freelance artist and have shows to direct in other theatres. It’s a huge vote of confidence and support from Nicola Clements, our ED, and the rest of the team, and allows me a great deal of space while still being totally connected to the organisation. I guess that’s what the slightly different title reflects.
In terms of what’s next for the Gate, we’ve got lots of exciting plans for programming and exploring the breadth of what international work means. We’re really keen to do some more translated work, for example; I’m a translator myself, so that’s very dear to my heart. I’m so curious about what’s going to happen with Woven Voices, and just keen to read and think as widely as possible. And in the absence of shows year-round, I still want the Gate to be a home for artists, particularly migrant and international artists, but also artists from every background. A place where they can feel like there’s support and a helping hand at a point when the industry can often feel so difficult. So, watch this space.
Thanks very much to Atri for taking the time to chat with us. Scenes from the Climate Era runs at the Playground Theatre from Tuesday 23 September to Saturday 25 October.
