The idea for comedy-drama Rage, But Hope – now running at London’s Streatham Space Project – was sparked after a simple conversation with a friend opened her eyes to the climate crisis. ‘Someone taking the time to educate people about the situation we’re in and what can be done about it is crucial,’ she says. ‘We all need to speak to each other with love and no blame or shame.'
As the play took root, Stephanie – best known for this year’s Vault Festival hit Juniper and Jules – became more involved with the XR movement. ‘It was partly to protest and partly a research mission,’ she notes. ‘My involvement was one of solidarity and presence rather than as an “arrestable”. I wonder whether in time I’ll come to regret that.’
‘As the reality of the dire situation we’re facing, and the fatal failures of government and corporations to act, becomes clear, there’s a lot of justified rage and anxiety in the air,’ adds Stephanie. ‘But there is hope for change and a better future, hence the title. This is not a worthy or sanctimonious play, it’s an uplifting call to arms. I want to make work that makes people want to be alive, because otherwise what’s the point?’
‘Arrestables’ – those willing to be arrested for the climate cause – are at the heart of Rage, But Hope. After attending court to support a friend following their arrest at the April uprising, Stephanie was struck by the variety of people who had been arrested. ‘This was not solely a middle-class, privileged group looking for the next outdoor rave to attend – quite the opposite,’ she says. ‘I hope my play helps to redress the Press’s representation of the individuals involved. These are normal people willing to risk their liberty for the cause. Their choices were made with logical, well-researched intent, and they all have a lot to lose. Commonly, they say: “I am not a natural law breaker. I have lived my life as a respectful member of society, but I have no choice”. Being arrested is their last resort – one that they do not want to take.’
However, while the Met’s blocking of XR protests was recently deemed unlawful, Stephanie says she understands the police response. Two of the play’s characters are officers, including May (played by Julie Cheung-Inhin), who is sceptical about the protests’ impact. ‘It’s crucial to explore both sides,’ explains Stephanie. ‘The Met have a responsibility to keep the city safe, and the moving and blocking of protests was an expression of that.’
She also admits that XR has to move away from the ‘arrestable’ aspect of the campaign in order to broaden its appeal. ‘It needs to come up with more ways to take part that are as impactful as non-violent direct action, but without risking arrest,’ she says. ‘We can say “You don’t have to get arrested” until we’re blue in the face, but the fact is that while our most meaningful actions involve mass arrest, the message we send is that arrest is the only powerful tool individuals have. Police involvement makes many people feel alienated from the movement.’
In Rage, But Hope, this divide is explored through Gilly, a Surrey yummy-mummy played by Emma Davies – ‘She’s having a thrilling adventure with XR, and she’s primed for satire,’ says Stephanie – and Dior Clarke’s character Philip, a young man from the British-Jamaican community who initially feels disaffected with XR and its methods. ‘XR’s global achievements are staggeringly impressive, and we can celebrate that while working on making sure people from all parts of society feel represented and safe,’ says Stephanie. ‘It’s all about communication and considering perspectives that are not your own lived experience. As a playwright, I too have a political need to redress the balance of whose stories we hear.’
To further bridge that gap, Streatham Space Project and the show’s producer are offering audiences ‘Pay What You Can’ tickets. ‘This is so crucial – art must be inclusive or you’re just yelling into an echo chamber,’ says Stephanie. ‘How can we learn from others if they can’t hear what we have to say? Climate justice is social justice; the two are inextricable, and we have to fight for both. Accessibility is a huge part of that – we have to open our doors and empower people to engage.’
Stephanie’s play doesn’t shy away from addressing other criticisms of the movement, either. ‘Theatre lets us wail into the abyss of the human condition while laughing together at our hypocrisies and foibles,’ she says. She references the anger shown towards the action at Canning Town Tube station last month, which saw commuters drag protesters from the roof of a train during a protest which affected working-class commuters and hit one of the more eco-friendly methods of travel. ‘The Tube incident was an example of the issues that arise from a decentralised movement,’ she says. ‘A very small minority took action in the name of XR that the vast majority of XR were in complete opposition to.’
She notes, too, the XR member who sent flowers to Brixton police station to thank officers for looking after them following their arrest – the same police station where three young black men, Wayne Douglas, Ricky Bishop and Sean Rigg, died while in custody. ‘Many found this to be deeply insensitive, and it was also an act taken by one XR voice in a multitude of voices,’ she says.
In contrast, it is listening to a multitude of voices that enables Stephanie to create a ‘hyper-realistic’ work such as Rage, But Hope. 'I soak up all the real stories and context. Merging, and borrowing from, these sources inspires characters,’ she says. ‘I’ve been asked how much is verbatim – I take it as a compliment that my words and characters can ring so true. Some might call it being nosy or emotional spying; I call it being perceptive and an extremely thorough listener!’
But when you’re observing so many people, how do you pick which voices to amplify? ‘The characters who’ve made the show are an amalgamation of the most passionate, surprising, and usually marginalised,’ she says. ‘For all of the characters, the growing awareness of the climate crisis has brought about great change to their lives, but often not in the ways you’d anticipate. Many of the narratives are not ones you’d expect to find in a play about climate change.’ Take, for instance, James McGregor’s character, Andy, a homeless ex-serviceman who has found romance with an XR protestor. 'I’m all about the unexpected, on and off stage,’ says Stephanie.
The play also thrives on the intergenerational aspects of the climate crisis, as seen in Venice van Someren’s character Leila, a precocious 11-year-old school striker, and veteran eco-campaigner Tony (played by Robert Rowe), in his 70s. It looks at the materialistic generations blamed for the eco-disaster, too – as represented in Matthew Romain's character Keiran, who ‘thinks the climate crisis is scaremongering and isn’t used to being told he can’t do or buy what he wants, when he wants’.
And it was Stephanie's own experience, as an almost 34-year-old 'child-free rather than childless' woman, that made her want to scrutinise the controversial Birth Strike – recently echoed by Matt Smith and Claire Foy in Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs at the Old Vic. In Rage, But Hope, young professional Annie, played by Flora Spencer-Longhurst, ‘refuses to bring a child into a world which we’re told will be collapsing in 20 years’.
‘Annie has realised that she has been living someone else’s plan for her,’ says Stephanie. ‘The expectation for women to be defined by motherhood is something I talk about frequently. It’s as if the climate crisis has encouraged deeper thought about the need to become parents – it’s no longer a given. I think encouraging ways of living other than the traditional 2.4 children route is key. We know that having children is killing the planet. We know that resources are strained. We know that the world seems less and less like a place we would like our children to live.’
Rage, But Hope premiered at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, during XR’s residency with Earth Ensemble at Summerhall. ‘Our Edinburgh run was a lovely microcosm of people coming together for a cause,’ Stephanie says. ‘The actors jumped in with no rehearsal or direction. The refined play now – with the events of the October rebellion fresh in our minds – will be a more detailed and complex piece while retaining the spirit and energy of our first run.’
This time, the play’s running period falls in the lead-up to the December 12 election, and XR’s 12 Days of Christmas protests, but Rage, But Hope’s ethos is that of XR’s ‘beyond politics’ principle. That doesn’t mean Stephanie doesn’t expect some political takeaway, however. ‘Climate change is an issue for all parties, and the play prompts people to examine policy and vote accordingly. After all, in May the Conservative government declared a climate emergency. Logic tells us that this must imply an urgent need for emergency measures and legislation.’
But theatre itself has been the target of climate protesters, with, for instance, a campaign for the RSC to end its BP sponsorship deal (which it did, after pressure from actors such as Mark Rylance, who quit his role as an associate artist). What more can be done to make the industry greener?
'We need more theatres to be mindful of what they use and, more importantly, what they throw away – most theatre sets are scrapped at the end of a run, and often very little is reused or recycled,’ says Stephanie. ‘Hiring rather than making costumes, and storing, selling or donating them for use by other productions keeps down costs as well as carbon.
‘We also need to see no more single-use plastic cups for interval drinks – at least make them washable, reusable ones – which a lot of theatres, and the Vault Festival, are already doing. All of our production materials are pre-loved and will be used many more times.’
Rage, But Hope is on at Streatham Space Project until Sunday, December 1
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