Embarking on Sustainable Theatremaking through the OCO-2 R&D 

In November 2021, Part of the Main was fortunate to receive Arts Council England funding to develop OCO-2, a new play by Nicole Latchana about the intersection of queerness, motherhood, and the climate crisis.

Given the political nature of this piece we felt strongly about ensuring our process also followed sustainability guidelines, and thoughtfully considered the both environmental impact of theatre and artists’ responsibility in addressing the crisis. 

In this post-production dispatch, writer Nicole Latchana and director Laura Clifford reflect on incorporating sustainable methods to deliver our R&D.

Nicole Latchana, writer of OCO-2

I wrote OCO-2 from a deep guilt about how my lifestyle in the West contributes to global climate breakdown, so making sure that this R&D felt as sustainable as possible was top priority for me.  Being ACE funded meant that we had the financial resources to budget for meetings solely about sustainability, which was a huge help. 

I spent many months looking for a producer and a director who felt right for the project. As soon as I met Olivia and Laura I felt excited about what the project could be, in terms of artistic growth for all involved as well as scope of the project’s audience. They both shared my values, I felt comfortable enough to share and address my changing access needs. Both Laura and Olivia are passionate about sustainability in theatre, in practise and within the context of the work itself, so from the get-go it was clear that we were going to work well together. 

It was a really comforting feeling knowing that our values aligned, and it meant we could have really deep and interesting conversations where we’d come up with new ideas and processes to work towards making theatre about sustainability, sustainably - this felt as exciting as working on the project itself, as it felt like we were truly making a small difference by thinking about the way we were producing the R&D. 

In order to ensure the content and politics of our production was rooted in contemporary science and policy, we consulted with two climate scientists, Tim Benton and Peter Harper. Tim Benton leads the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House and is Professor of Population Ecology at the University of Leeds. Peter Harper previously worked at the Centre for Alternative Technology from 1994 - 2013, holding the positions of Head of Biology and then Head of Research and Innovation. He now teaches part-time at the University of Bath.

We first met with Professor Benton. His knowledge of climate change, and how it will affect nature, the economy, and beyond was very interesting and informed a huge amount of the world of the play.  It was great to get an understanding of climate change from a 'zoomed out' perspective and also confirmation that direct action from groups such as XR is putting pressure on the government to make changes.  Much of the details he mentioned have made it into the play, such as the animal displacement causing diseases.  

Peter recommended some wonderful climate sci-fi books which helped to inform the play.  He also mentioned some methods that some countries are trying to reduce average temperature increase, one of which made it into the final pages of the script!  He also shared that population control would probably be the last measure that governments would impose, which was a very good point to think about, and posed more questions about the world that the play is set in, as well as pushing further, the question that I'm asking of the play and the characters in it.

Building conversations into our meetings early was vital, so we could have the time to implement our ideas into the production process. Finding the right people continued being something that was essential for the ongoing sustainability of the project. Actively stating that we were looking for creatives with an interest in climate justice and experience working in a sustainable ways in call-outs meant that we needed to keep the advert up longer but that eventually we found the right person for the project, again, demonstrating the importance of starting the conversations early, to action tasks early. Finding the right people took a little longer, but ultimately, it saved time and energy overall as we were all aligned in our goal. The real proof was in the little things our company did, like making sure that all the thank you cards and post-R&D gifts were environmentally friendly. 

As well as this, the artistic integrity of the project really benefited from the holistic nature of the process. Having people in the room who cared about the climate meant that the conversations we had about the work had lots of different opinions and ideas that supported and elevated the story in new and unexpected ways.

Laura Clifford, director of OCO-2

We were fortunate to have creatives in the room with range of experiences and backgrounds, which offered up some multi-faceted discussions on climate change and our environmental impact. Focusing on movement exploration during the R&D took us through a process of using research and ideas around climate change to create physical responses to the subject matter – exploring the impact that changes in the environment, climate anxiety, and choice paralysis has on the body. 

Our stage manager, Eliott Sheppard, helped to implement sustainable practice by encouraging keep-cups, paperless working, and sourcing props and costumes second-hand or through hire. Prioritising sustainability in this way meant that sourcing props and costumes took a little longer, but meant we were able to spend an afternoon rummaging around the National Theatre’s extensive props store. Minimising our environmental impact was a shared value across our team and something we had factored into our planning early on.

Prioritising sustainability throughout this process wasn’t always an easy task but was ultimately the most rewarding approach that felt integral to the themes and ideas of OCO-2. Following the 2-week R&D our producer, Olivia, hosted a panel entitled ‘Making Theatre During Our Climate Crisis’ with a group of brilliant panellists who have fore fronted climate change and sustainable practice in their own work. Listening to the panellists discuss their views on the importance of sustainability in theatre making was inspirational and offered up very useful tips and advice to take forward into future projects. One discussion point that came up during the panel is how easy it can be to feel overwhelmed by the problem of climate change – something that arose through a lot of our own discussions during the project – however it was encouraging to hear about the impact that can be made from focusing on what can be done, striving to be ‘better not perfect’, and the difference that is already being made in the industry.

You can learn more about our R&D of OCO-2 here, and watch our panel on ‘Making Theatre During Our Climate Crisis’ (feat. playwright April De Angelis, Coney Associate Artist Toby Peach, Young Coneys member Kayja, and Pigfoot Theatre Artistic Director Hetty Hodgson) here.