Arctic Beginnings: Climate Comedy on Tour

Not many improv projects start with a trip to the Arctic and then end up trying to save the world. In this episode, Lloydie delves into the unique and inspiring journey of "We Built This City on Rock'n Coal," a climate change improv science comedy touring show. This initiative is touring the west coast of Ireland and Northern Ireland, aiming to make the climate crisis more accessible and engaging through comedy and improv. Find out more at http://www.rockandcoal.ie/

Guests:

Jessamyn Fairfield – Improviser and Scientist
Katy Schutte – Improviser, Writer, and Theatre Maker

Host:
Lloydie James Lloyd

Podcast Theme:
Composed by Chris Stevens at Studio Dragonfly

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Episode transcript

Climate change improv comedy touring show aims to raise awareness about climate change

Lloydie James Lloyd: Just strikes me as not many improv projects start with a trip to the Arctic and then, and, then end up trying to save the world. This is the improv Chronicle.

Katy Schutte: I'm Lloydie M. We built this city on rock'n coal is a climate change improv science comedy touring show which is going around the west coast of Ireland to, rural areas and to Northern Ireland. You can find out more on webuiltthiscity, ie, if you're interested in climate change or want to learn about it or converse about it, you should come. And if you like comedy and you just want to have a lovely time, come. If you're very depressed and anxious about the climate crisis, probably come because we're going to make it more accessible for you.

Footage from rehearsal: So how have you been since our last session? Have you been imagining my voice in your head like we discuss?

Jessamyn Fairfield: Yes. Get him to pay you, because the.

Speaker C: Rate has gone up, so we will need to settle that. Before I give you any further advice.

Katy Schutte: Get him to fuck his neighbour.

Jessamyn Fairfield: Yeah.

Jessamine Fairfield and Katie Chute are developing an improv project about climate change

So, I'm Jessamine Fairfield. I'm an improviser and a scientist based in Galway in Ireland.

Katy Schutte: Hello, I'm Katie Chute. I'm an improviser and a writer and a theatre maker.

Lloydie James Lloyd: I have been mainly, finding out about this project through Katie and through the Internet. How did it come about?

Katy Schutte: I think it came about because we both did a similar expedition in the Arctic. We knew each other already as improvisers and in fact, Jessamine inspired me to go on this artist and scientist trip, which is like on a sailing ship, around Svalbard, basically, which is north of Norway, and she was extremely helpful and supportive in me going on this trip. And then afterwards we were both a bit like, what can we do with our improv skills and kind of save the planet? And this is what we came up with.

Jessamyn Fairfield: Yeah, easy, easy question to answer. and we've answered it.

Lloydie James Lloyd: It just strikes me as not many improv projects start with a trip to the Arctic and then. And then end up trying to save the world. this seems big.

Jessamyn Fairfield: Yeah, well, I think, like, the residency that we both did, which is called the Arctic Circle residency and is really nice for, like, just bringing scientists and artists of all stripes together. a lot of it was focused on, like, how can we use the skills that we have to combat the climate crisis in some way? And it was really interesting to think about, like, for improv. Like, what does that, what could that look like? And what types of communities would we want to work with? And what could we do? And how could we fit in some sea swims on the way? but, like, improv is such a. I mean, improv is such a powerful tool, right? And it's so, it's so freeing as a performer and so creative, but also, like, for an audience member, like, to be part of what's happening and part of the creative process and to get to feel like you can bring stuff to a show and it's incorporated like that to me as a. As a science communicator, felt very powerful for getting people to engage where they actually feel like, you know, they're part of what's happening. And it's not just like, people lecturing you about something. so I really like that. And obviously that's, that has roots in, like, forum theatre and theatre of the oppressed and stuff like that. But also, like, in an improv context and in a comedy context, taking something really heavy and being like, oh, we can, we can play with this. We can find new angles on it, we can make it lighter and more punishable. Palatable, perhaps, but also, like, help lead to creator action, hopefully. we'll let you know how it goes in a month. But that's the idea.

Speaker E: I think it's a good idea. The structure is great, everything sounds fantastic, and it's gonna be loads of fun. The opening scenes, which are just like, no plus ones or no, anything happening. I think that makes so much sense as a base.

Punk is a comedy show about climate change. All of its shows are in Ireland

Lloydie James Lloyd: What do you imagine this show is going to be like? What's your vision for the show?

Katy Schutte: We did have a pilot last year in Dingle, so all our shows are in Ireland. and we're going to rural places, mostly around the west coast and then Northern Ireland. So we're trying to reach people that maybe don't have as much access to this stuff, and, or, have conversations with people who are directly related to the land in a way that we might not be, say, in the city, for instance, or directly, you know, like a lot of farmers and people that work with the land. so we have an idea of a vision for the show from that one. and part of it is having sustainability workshops with the sustainable life school. We have some citizen science projects which are like biodiversity walks. Because if people connect with their immediate environment, it seems relevant to them and their community and not just this far away global thing. That's nothing to do with them. so we have that, and we also have a scientist in the show, mostly an environmental scientist, but we have a couple other guests. So the vision of the show is that the comedy improv is a part of a package which gives people tools and knowledge and conversations around the climate crisis that they can start or continue to do things, with those tools, but also be able to talk to people that live where they live. So that's the vision. And that us as improvisers can add hope. Punk is a big thing for us because there's so much climate anxiety, it's so depressing and overwhelming. And sometimes you can just feel like, oh, just not shopping at Amazon isn't enough, and then you just stop trying. So it's nice to go, okay, well, there are lots of small things. Maybe just start with one and see how you go.

Jessamyn Fairfield: Yeah. Like, I think each of those pieces can, can like give a sense of agency back to, you know, the communities that we're visiting, but also us as performers, frankly. Because, sometimes it can feel like climate change is like this big thing that's happening to you. That is awful and hard to have a difference on. but it's like, no, we can all do something and, you know, the being involved in the science piece of it, being involved in like, individual actions, but also hopefully leading to collective action in some places and using, yeah, like improv as one of many empowering tools.

Katy Schutte: Oh, is that what the report, that's.

Speaker E: What all the reporters say in the world collapse.

Katy Schutte: What? I can see out of the window that everything's kind of on fire. Have you not seen this?

Speaker E: No, I've been down to the basement.

Katy Schutte: You just did on the Internet.

Speaker E: No, I was down in the basement on the support.

Jessamyn Fairfield: I didn't see.

Speaker E: Yep, yep. That's exactly what the.

Lloydie James Lloyd: So as someone who has been to a few conferences that have directly discussed climate policy, and who's heard from people who've described the state of the planet, I relate to the thing you said earlier on about the kind of gravity of the situation being overwhelming. for me though, where does the comedy come in? Because I could have done with that at the conferences I went to.

Jessamyn Fairfield: It's so overwhelming. And I think there's a lot of evidence around existing strategies of climate communication and ways in which they don't necessarily work. Because even though stuff like the doom and gloom, it has power, it gets reshared, but it doesn't necessarily inspire action because it can be so depressing. And to me that's part of what can be valuable about, a comedy and an improv and an adaptive approach is actually making space for those feelings from both the audience and the performers looking at them in different contexts and being like, yeah, like this. This is scary. It's okay to have this emotional response to stuff. and we're all feeling that that's something that is shared by everyone that's going to be in those rooms, but on this podcast in the world, and then saying, okay, but then where can we go from there? And, like, there are some things that are. That are funny about it, right? Because it's ludicrous. It's ludicrous that we have even done this to the planet. Like, it's absurd when you think about it. And there's a lot of comedy and things that are absurd and depressing, at least to me. And it helps you cope, right? It helps you cope and keep going as a person.

Katy Schutte: Yeah, it can be cathartic, right? And comedy is sometimes just a release or a surprise at a new angle. and seeing how other people cope with stuff. And I think improv is so useful, rather than a scripted show. Whenever I'm doing improv, I like to ask myself, why am I doing this as improv? Could this not be a written show? Because I do both. And with this, I feel like this is exactly the tool because it is a back and forth. We are listening to the people that are in that room at that time, their opinions, their issues, struggles in their community. So it wouldn't really work as a scripted show. Also, we don't want to preach at, people. We want it to be a conversation. So that's another reason for the improv. And the comedy comes along with improv in a lot of places as well, because it's surprising and different, and we're interpreting things people have written down or said out loud in our own way. So that's going to create, a slight positive disconnect, I think.

So you're touring at various places with the show. What's the end point when the tour ends

Lloydie James Lloyd: So you're touring at various places with the show. What's the kind of end point when the tour ends? What happens then?

Jessamyn Fairfield: It's funny. It's funny you should ask that, because at the moment when the tour ends, we might have some more shows. but I also think, to me, with this kind of project, the risk is going out to a community, doing a thing, feeling good, because we did a thing, we leave, and then the next day, like, everyone has forgotten the thing. and that's like, you can feel like, yeah, we had a great show. Like, we talked about climate change, but it's like, if there's no further development, then it can be like a kind of one and done thing that doesn't really have a huge impact. And so I think for me, I really want to see further engagement with the same communities that we visit on future climate projects, which can be, we built the city on rock and coal next year, but it could also be like other kind of climate and performing arts projects that, you know, that might come out of, say, the University of Galway where I work, or they could come from lots of other places. people have been really generous with their networks with us, and I would love to pay that forward to future projects, but also like, you know, last summer, in advance of getting this started, myself, and two other researchers, Geisha Kinderman and Clare Murray, went out to some of the communities that we were hoping to visit. And we just had like focus group consultations with people talking about climate and like concerns and actions. And one of the things that came out of that was that people just really wanted community. They wanted to connect to other people that cared about these issues, you know, where they were. And I'm really hoping that that's something that we can help, like catalyse and or sustain in the different places that we visit so that hopefully, you know, there's people that are connected to each other after we've gone there, in ways that are like meaningful and lasting, even if we don't come back. But also I hope that we come back.

Katy Schutte: We talked about it being a bit of an ecosystem that we set up. So exactly as Jessamine describes. Be like just something you did in the workshop. Say they just discussed something like clothing swaps or something. If you haven't already done that or you've just forgotten to do it again, that might be a catalyst in order to have that community do things that are sustainable and fun. To bring people together around an issue and not have it be a giant bummer the whole time.

Improv Chronicle is a comedy show about climate change

Speaker E: The question is, of course, what makes m climate change hard to talk about? and the answer that I have written here is trying to argue with people.

Lloydie James Lloyd: Why do you think more people aren't doing this? Because the more you talk about this, the more this makes complete sense to me. So it seems to me like you, you kind of, ah, I don't know of many projects like this, so it seems to me like you're pioneering something. Why do you think it doesn't happen more?

Katy Schutte: I think we're very lucky to know each other, because I think, ah, I'm the, well, we're both the stupid artist person, but also jasmine with a science background and a lot of great, ah, kind of links and, ways in and kind of research, ways of working with research. It's stuff that I'm only just learning on a different course. So that's incredibly useful to be able to do stuff like get funding. So this is funded, which means that we can pay all our actors. It means that the audiences can come to every event for free, which is one way of getting rid of some barriers. It means that, we have producers who could cheque that all our venues are accessible. So actually, even though it might seem like, oh, you know, everyone could do a climate change improv show, and I genuinely hope everyone does, but we have had a lot of, contacts, we've managed to get funding, and I think because Jessamine and the producers know how to do that, we have a lot of data to back all this stuff up, including the focus groups and things like that. So there's a lot more under the surface. So it might. Hopefully, it'll just look like a fun improv show with some tools around it, but there's a lot under the water, if you know what I mean.

Jessamyn Fairfield: Yeah, I think that, you know, we're very lucky to have the support of creative Ireland, who this is actually them funding us is their second round of a creative climate action call that they did for, both smaller projects like ours and some really, really big projects. And to me, like, that's just such a visionary way to think about climate action of, like, what can artists do? And artists from different places and in different formats and media, and then how can that be combined with science, but also community outreach, activism, all of those pieces, and we're also involved with a few science foundation Ireland centres, ICRAG and Baorbic here in Ireland. And they also, fortunately for us, have a very strong, like, public engagement, ethos, which I think is really important because, like, the science shouldn't be separate from society, but also, like, thinking about tools like improv for this kind of thing. It's really powerful. Like, it's really powerful. And, yeah, like, as Katie said, we're kind of lucky to have the skills, but also the contacts to be able to do something like this.

Lloydie James Lloyd: Huge thanks to Katie and Jessamine for taking time just before their first show to talk to the Improv Chronicle. When they finish this tour, we're going to cheque in with them and see how it went. In the meantime, the Improv Chronicle is produced and hosted by me, Lloydy James Lloyd. Help boost this podcast to new people by rating it and following it on your favourite podcast app. You can also donate if you want. There's a link in the show notes. For more information about the Improv Chronicle and for transcripts from all episodes, you can go to improvchronicle.com.