GymJam Theatre brings digital choose-your-own adventure to Oxford Playhouse audiences ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN ERA
Physical theatre company GymJam bring their new interactive production, Anthropocene: The Human Era, to Oxford Playhouse audiences from 22 April-10 May 2021.
The digital choose-your-own adventure asks what the future might look like as the climate crisis unfolds and puts the power in the hands of the audience members to ask what impact our decisions make on our own footprint on the world.
Inspired by the birth strikes by women who refuse to have children in light of the climate crisis, GymJam’s Anthropocene: The Human Era dives into the mind of Megan, a young woman dreaming about her future in the wake of the climate emergency. Time is stretched and warped as she sits in her bathroom staring down at a pregnancy test, in a multiple-choice adventure story inspired by Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch and Gecko Theatre’s Time of Your Life.
Co-director William Townsend said: “There are limitless human stories wrapped up in the Climate Crisis. My initial inspiration for the show came from a need to explore how excessive we are day to day in the UK. I’d sit and watch commuters at train stations bouncing in and out of shops for meal deals and disposable items, thrown into the streets or out of windows. Our convenience choices are often at an unsustainable cost to the planet.
“During research and development for the show we found our human inspiration in the Birth Strikers, having kids can feel so normal that to choose not to is a powerful message. After all, who will be most affected by the Climate Emergency? To re-imagine and stream this show now is paramount for us, because when the pandemic took centre stage action and information on the Climate Crisis dwindled. Just look at our Governments latest approval of more oil and gas wells to be drilled in the North Sea. Every one of our actions has consequences and the multiple-choice element of our show just mimics this reality of our every-day life. We need to start working, daily, for the future we want to see for ourselves and our children. That’s what this show is for.”
Tickets can be purchased here.
