Cross-Fertilising Ideas about DIRT: Climate Change, Storytelling and the Underground Circus

By Rachel Hare, from the Brigstow funded project Engaging Multi-Generational Audiences on Climate Change through Storytelling and Physical Theatre

Climate change is perhaps the most significant challenge of the twenty-first century, but how do we open up conversations and inspire people to take positive action?

Funded by Brigstow, our ideas exchange brought creatives and academics together to explore the role of storytelling and theatre in informative, exciting and empowering public engagement about climate change, ecosystem degradation, and ecological grief, focusing on She Said Jump’s immersive aerial theatre project DIRT: A Circus Adventure Underground. The interdisciplinary team included Maisie Whitehead (artistic director, She Said Jump), Jo Nadin (children’s novelist and researcher, Department of Creative Writing), Fotis Sgouridis (expert in soil biogeochemistry and the nitrogen cycle, School of Geographical Sciences), Lesel Dawson (academic specialising in grief, emotions and creativity, Department of English and the Good Grief Festival), and Rachel Hare (PhD student, Department of English). At some meetings, we were joined by DIRT’s co-creator Malik Ibheis, writer Lizzie Muncey, and designer Katy Hoste.

Fertile ground: What is DIRT?

Currently in development, DIRT will be an accessible, multi-sensory installation and performance that uses circus, storytelling, silliness and a lot of puppets to dive into the soil under our feet. It will introduce intergenerational audiences to giant earthworm Meryl and a host of other characters in the wonderful world of the underground circus. Physical theatre, comedy and aerial circus are the ideal media to explore complicated ideas through verbal and visual storytelling, speaking to people with different kinds of life experience and learning needs. It thus offers unique opportunities to engage with multiple generations and stimulate discussions between families, communities and beyond.

Sowing seeds: What did we hope to achieve?

The ideas exchange aimed to investigate the tension between leaving space for ecological and environmental grief and sharing accurate information about the climate crisis, with the importance of offering hope to create action, rather than fear and paralysis. Our research branched out from two core aims:

1) to ensure DIRT is rooted in accurate scientific information and

2) to help these insights grow through the storytelling and plot, creating a framework for vital conversations and positive change.

We held four online meetings, each centring on a different question which allowed the team to discuss their professional and personal relationship to the climate crisis and collaboratively explore different ways to develop DIRT.

Growing together: What did we find?

Throughout our conversations, we were struck by the importance of collective action, both for the process of creating DIRT and for the story it needs to tell. As Fotis explained soil biogeochemistry, he kept returning to the ways in which everything is connected, that damage in one part of the ecosystem has repercussions for the entire structure, but also that each small action to protect or repair has significance as part of a larger whole: ‘Yes, we might be very little, but worms are even smaller than us and they change the soil, right? And in their mass numbers they make all the difference’. Jo and Lesel’s insights about children’s literature and the history of the emotions also brought out the importance of togetherness as a source of purpose, empowerment, and support.

Although DIRT was always conceived as interactive, the ideas exchange reinforced the need for the audience to feel part of the performance and thus part of the wider story of ecosystem degradation and regeneration. The team discussed ways for children and adults to actively participate in rebuilding parts of the show’s set, with each person’s contribution helping to create change.

We also developed plans for Jo to write an accompanying picture book which would allow audience members to take the story home, learn more about soil, and access online resources which support positive action. Bringing to life Katy’s beautiful design images and formatted by Malik, Jo’s ‘flyer for the underground circus’ offers a tantalising glimpse of this idea’s potential.

New shoots: What’s next?

If you want to dig deeper into DIRT, have a look at the behind-the-scenes videos here: https://www.shesaidjump.co.uk/dirt