Forum Theatre: Power Predicament

“The unthinkable has happened! Nuclear war has ravaged our already polluted and overheated planet. Those who have survived – now ragged and hungry – turn their traumatised eyes to you. You are asked to decide how to fuel the future. Which power source will you use to rebuild the nation?

Time is short. You have only 45 minutes to decide what source or sources of power to choose. Where will you site the power stations? How will energy be stored? How will it be transported? And remember, there are immediate energy needs as well as long term ones. Choose carefully, the future is in your hands.”

This is the scenario facing Bernard, Tamsin, Lucy and Chantal; employees of Middleshire County Council. They are on a training day and a welcome break from work; however, clashing personalities might make it less relaxing than they had hoped. Will their vastly different viewpoints make this an impossible task? Should they even care? That’s up to you to decide.

This is a unique experience where theatre meets discussion and the audience take the director’s chair. Tell the characters what to do and say, while exploring one of the biggest issues that face us today – from all the angles.

Format

Following the introduction of the short scenario action is stopped and the audience is introduced to the rules of the session. Each actor will be assigned to a group and will talk to them about his or her problem. The audience are invited to discuss what they have seen with their allocated actor, and to make suggestions about what they might do next. The session then goes into full- swing. The groups are charged with looking after their character advising them on what to do and say.

They can do this by calling “time-out”. This stops the action so each group can tell their character what to do next, or how to respond to the situation in which they find themselves. The actors can also call “time-out” when they need help or advice. The audience are told that they cannot change their characters personalities, but they can change their actions. At certain points the characters are moved on to a new group of advisers. This gives each section of the audience the opportunity to see the situation from all the different perspectives.

The session led by director who observes the groups, intervenes with new information and coordinates the timing on the interventions.

Characters

Bernard is head of Waste Management at the MCC. He is pleased that the council are running these courses; in fact he has been pushing for them to take a more active approach to environmental issues for some time. He was instrumental in setting up the recycling programme and is constantly frustrated that more resources are not put into enlarging the scheme. In his personal life he takes care to be as “green” as possible. He does have a car but uses it as little as possible, preferring to cycle to work. He has installed a windmill, solar panels and heat pump in his own house. His wife thinks he’s mad.

Tamsin grew up in the U.S. but settled in Middleshire twelve years ago. She has worked in the Planning Department of MCC for five years. She is happy to be on the training course and is concerned about environmental matters but not to the extent that she would drastically change her lifestyle. She does recycle, she drives a fairly fuel-efficient car etc. but she does take regular flights to the States.

Lucy works in the County Treasurer’s Office. She is aware of the business case for the county being more energy efficient but sees the training course as an expensive PR exercise. She is concerned that the world’s fuel stocks are dwindling but doesn’t think that the situation is as bad as environmentalists would have us believe. As with the whole climate-change debate, she suspects political motivation. This being said she agrees with the government’s policy to build ten new nuclear reactors as this is the most cost effective solution and we already have the technology.

Chantal is a receptionist at County Hall. She’s happy to be on the course as it means a day out of work. She is aware of the energy crisis- she’s has seen it on T.V., read about it in magazines and is quite well informed. She isn’t terribly concerned, as she believes that the “scientists” will come up with a solution.

Cast

Ian Saville
Mo Oakeley
Carol Duval
Sophie Brooke

Director
Clifford Olliver

Event organised by:
The Science Museum