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How do you write a climate play? 'Sundream' - one year on

It has been said that all good ideas start in the pub. Examples include ‘Cats Eyes’ that light up our roads, the discovery of DNA and Shaun of the Dead(1).


Quite a lot of bad ideas have started in the pub as well - and when you are staring down the barrel of writing a show in two months when you’ve just learned the genre and you know have to work out how to make an historical romantic comedy about extreme heat (also there is a whale in it) you start to question if this is going to be a lifesaving invention/scientific discovery/great film sort of idea, or a sambuca shots at 11pm sort of an idea. 


When you mention that you make climate theatre people start talking about climate theatre, people start apologising for flying to see their mum last year or explaining about how good they are at recycling, despite the fact that we are very much as flawed as the next person when it comes to living a ‘green lifestyle’. We don’t make theatre about climate change because we are perfect people who want to make other people as perfect as us, we make theatre about climate change because we want to understand the world we are living in. 


At the beginning of our creative journey together, Sofia Bagge, co-director of the theatre company, found an article by the writer and academic Jessi Jezewska Stevens on ‘Klima Literatur’. In it, Jezewska Stevens asked the question: “Is every novel a climate novel?”' (2) Although in the context of the original article, her question was in relation to the novel as a form, for us this question became a lens to view all stories we create through. For us this question opened up the idea of what a climate story 'should' be, leading to the question: is every story a climate story?


So for books, whatever kind of book it is, because it is written now, will be about climate change, even if that isn’t explicit in the content. That includes the latest Andy McNab novel and Shopaholic at Christmas.


As theatre makers, we argue that every play is a climate play, because everything is about climate change. What that means is that we are free to make climate theatre which is funny, romantic, scary, thrilling, weird, gentle, dark, spooky, and even hopeful.


Our first theatre production, Decommissioned, was inspired by the true story of Fairbourne in Wales, the first place in the UK to be told it could be ‘decommissioned’ due to climate change. It was also a romantic comedy about returning home, feeling out of place, and learning how to be an adult for the children who are living now.


As well as making shows we run theatre workshops for children and adults, as well as university students. For one of our most popular activities, we start with news stories about climate change and then ask participants to explore them using their favourite genres. Previous ideas that have come up include: a ghost story about ancient moss, the Fast and the Furious but they are all on bikes, a fantasy story about a dragon rider who is hoarding all the gold, and a youtube series about a ‘prepper’ whose basement of food is flooded.


These workshops have inspired our approach to Sundream, our new play set in Jaywick, Essex in a record breaking summer heatwave. We had a few thoughts as to the genre … but after having heard all the amazing ways that communities can come up with fun ideas we decided to ask people “what is your favourite type of story?” We asked people at events, in coffee mornings, on the beachfront and online. And we found the answer: “comedy”, followed jointly by “historical” and “romance”.


Right, so a historical romantic comedy …


Knowing that 2026 is the fiftieth anniversary of the 1976 heatwave, we created a one woman work-in-progress show following Jackie, a 66 year old who lives in Jaywick during a record breaking heatwave, and remembering her first love during the 1976 summer of heat. 


Seventeen drafts were written to an absolutely amazing sound track of 70s tunes, leading to our first performance, with Carol Paradine starring as Jackie. We were overwhelmed by the feedback, including: 

“Wow!!! Thank you all so much for tonight, what a wonderful, heartwarming, evocative, brilliant piece of theatre. So well written, and beautifully acted. The direction as always goes unnoticed, which I guess is the best compliment. Together you brought Jacqueline fantastically to life. Funny and tender and poignant and hopeful. And the memories!!!

We are so grateful to people in Jaywick and Clacton helping us making this show - we can’t wait to further develop it in September 2026 and then tour it in the coming years. 


Molly Anne Sweeney

Scriptwriter & Co-Artistic Director of Wise Ram Theatre



Further notes

You can find out more about us by emailing hello@wiseramtheatre.co.uk.

In September we will bring short extracts of the play to community venues in Jaywick, Clacton & Walton. If you are part of, or run a group that would enjoy these short performances please email us. 


 
 
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