Let’s face it. When it comes to conversations about climate change and going down the existential rabbit hole that is thinking about the future of our planet, it’s easy for our emotions to spiral. We feel out of control. Powerless.
We can do small things to take back this power. Using a keep-cup. Buying recycled toilet paper. Vegan diets. Re-using ziploc bags. Buying local produce. Saying no to fast fashion. Or… putting on plays that tackle these difficult conversations.
And 3 Billion Seconds achieves exactly that – a story that takes the idea of tangible actions towards a better world and pushes it to the extreme by asking: How far would you go to save the planet?
Stepping in as an understudy for the character of Daisy has been an equally thrilling (and equally terrifying) experience for one major reason: I hate this character.
Without giving too much away, Daisy is a very… morally ambiguous person. She does things I could never fathom – things I couldn’t think about fathoming. Playing out scenes on the floor with fellow understudy Seth Rafael Barrun, I initially struggled with the question ‘Why would anyone do this?!’.
But then I remembered what director Dominique Purdue said in our first rehearsal. This play is about two things: fear and love.
And given the context of the impending (*cough cough* current) climate crisis, these are two emotions that I know people, and particularly young people, can relate to.
I’m fearful of adding further harm to the already declining state of our planet, but I’m also driven by a love and desire to one day have a child and grow a family in this world! Because the world is fucked! There’s war, there’s famine, there’s flowers growing in Antarctica! But there’s also beautiful, amazing things – theatre, cool Autumn sunsets, vibrant flowers, ABBA songs – things you want to share with the people you love.
And this is the cognitive dissonance that drives Daisy. I’m excited for audiences to form their own opinions about this character and reflect on how far they would go for their own beliefs and their family. Which in turn, can make a person do questionable things.
But perhaps one of the best experiences so far has been experiencing Blinking Light’s approach to theatre making. Sustainability is at the forefront of everything they do. Seeing the active changes from our creative team from our first rehearsal to our most recent has been fantastic to see. We’ve gone from single use coffee cups to keep cups. Takeaway food in plastic containers to pre-prepared meals in tupperware. Perhaps my favourite moment of this whole experience so far has been seeing Izabella Louk drink a home-made smoothie from a pasta jar with complete normalcy.
Making sustainable theatre is a challenge in problem solving and creativity. And as people in the creative industry, that is a fun and exciting challenge that we should all tackle in the works we make with excitement and motivation.
Because it’s easy to share art and put on productions delivering messages about the environment, but what damage are we doing to the environment in order to do so?
We can control what we do on a micro level to impact the macro.
This is what 3 Billion Seconds is about. It’s a love story in the tragic setting of our current climate crisis, with some great moments of comedy and tenderness along the way.
We can all relate to feeling like we’re not doing enough in the climate crisis battle.
And finding ways to sustainably create theatre is a conscious choice that we can control. Because if smaller artists and creatives can create work that is impactful, creative and sustainable, and have fun while doing it – bigger productions can follow suit.
So, yes, I’d like to see more rehearsal rooms with less wastage, zero AI and more actors drinking smoothies out of pasta jars.
3 Billion Seconds is playing at KxT on Broadway from April 17th to May 2nd and is presented by Blinking Light Theatre. Tickets are available here.
