The workshop was funded by Creative Futures Academy Sandpit communities of practice, and part of the Slow Media project, involving UCD and NCAD. It was the first in the series, and led by Dr Sivakumar Ramachandran, supported by alumni from Bow Street Academy. The workshop offered a thematically contexed actor-writer-director co-creation improvisation environment, which transcended the individual disciplines of the participants.

The workshop took place at UCD Trapdoor Theatre on 29th October. The thematics of the workshop were climate change, sustainability, the environment and nature. It began with a meditation and free interpretation within a visualised natural environment.

Then in groups, the participants discussed their passions, frustrations, anxieties, strategies and positive change scenarios around helping the health of the planet, as well as the stakeholders, institutional challenges and organisational personas involved. The concept of ‘Protopia’ was encapsulated in the approach, whereby there are no protagonists or antagonists in scenes, rather characters whose dramatic arc is to realise there are challenges that have to be met by problem solving with each other, rather than opposition.

The participants then carved out fictional scenarios, focused on one aspect of these themes. Supported by the Bow Street actors, they developed short, improvised scenes and recorded them in note-form. They then staged and rehearsed the scenes before performing them. The participants, mainly students from the three institutions, expressed their satisfaction with the workshop and how they could be enhanced and broadened into a much bigger programme.

The scenes themselves, which unexpectedly involved sustainability and natural environment dilemmas in everyday life, provoked much discussion on how we as individuals can make a small and positive difference without wholly delegating the responsibility to institutional stakeholders, with a Protopian approach to solving the problems we face. The workshop stands testament to the power of drama from the heart, in bringing positive change for the planet, as well as helping to mainstream these issues in media and culture.

We wish to thank staff at UCD’s Trapdoor Theatre and the School of English, Drama and Film for their support and resources for running the workshop.