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The Contingency Plan Returns to Mark Copenhagen Conference

The Bush has announced that it will be marking the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen with readings of Steve Waters’s provocative double-bill, The Contingency Plan on 15 and 18 December. The readings will take place at the theatre's second space, The Bush at the Library.

The two interlinked plays, On the Beach and Resiliance, which were first seen during a seven-week run at the Shepherd’s Bush theatre earlier this year, present the issues surrounding climate change in human terms, focusing on a father and son, both glaciologists and both struggling with the way that government responds to their not very optimistic scientific findings.

The readings will see the same critically acclaimed cast as that of the double-bill’s spring run, with Robin Soans and Geoffrey Streatfeild playing the father and son respectively.

In a statement made to Whatsonstage.com, Steve Waters commented that, "watching events in Copenhagen and the mass of new and shocking scientific research surfacing, has horribly confirmed some of the fears in the play.  What's so exciting about these productions though is the range of emotions the actors generate - and to have the original pitch perfect cast re-assembled is going to be an especial thrill.  I wouldn't suggest for a second the plays will change anything, but what I hope is that they offer us a chance to imagine more concretely what we tend to receive in facts and arcane terminology.  In fact there is something strangely exhilarating and genuinely tragic about the debate around climate change and I hope these plays capture that".

Tamara Harvey and Hannah Ashwell-Dickinson direct.

- by Jo Caird - Theatregoer Reporter

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