Performances

You, the audience, are gathered at a meeting of the Business Improvement Network. Perhaps you’re hoping to trade contacts, or seek advice. But the guest speaker at today’s meeting has a troubling story to tell, and an unusual proposal to pitch. So how will you and other network members choose to respond?

This warm, welcoming, one-man show explores the UK’s current state of preparedness for a changing climate. Opening with memories of the July 2022 heatwave, when the country recorded its first temperatures over 40°C, the performance explores challenging themes with poignancy, humour, and a little help from the audience.

This modern fairy tale explores the challenges faced by an ordinary coastal town in a time of storms and rising seas. A lowly town planner called Jo, wondering how to keep back the tide, seeks advice from the legendary King Cnut (aka Canute). He responds by teaching her how to box. Cnut’s four lessons explore the stages of resilience planning: Aware, Adapt, Respond, Recover.

It could be any town, really. And it could happen again tomorrow. But this is the true story of how residents in Shipley, West Yorkshire, were impacted by unprecedented river flooding at Christmas, 2015. This performance invites audiences to reflect on the real, human costs of a changing climate. What does it feel like to lose your home to a storm?

This intimate piece of tabletop storytelling explores community resilience and nature recovery. The watery history of a small, post-industrial neighbourhood is told through the eyes of two people who grew up there. Is it possible to go home again? To restore what’s been lost?