Time-bomb

selected for BEAM 2025

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What’s it about?: Love, hope and the Law in climate-crisis Essex
Where are we?: On the streets, in a court-room
Why now?: The climate catastrophe is happening.     Gen Z are angry and at risk, families, generations divide. The Law cracks down on protest.   Governments move too slowly.   What’s the way through?
Synopsis: Maria, climate activist, is arrested, tried and convicted for closing a vital motorway for two days.  Furious Gen Z activists are eloquent and tangle with the court.   They’re also jokey and fun, sorry for the disruption but the climate is bigger – and there is a way out, if only ‘they’ would concentrate, act.    Jason loves Maria but tries to persuade her of a different way.   Baby boomers worry they should have done more, sooner.   Maria and Jason try to resolve.  Activists face the Law. Audience are the Jury. The planet heats.
Who’s in it?:

Maria Wilderland, mid-30s, climate activist and mountaineer

Jason Potter, Maria’s partner, geophysicist

Ensemble – Jade, Leonora and Mohammed (teen/20s), local climate activists; Prosecuting Counsel; Defence Counsel, Judge Cadwallader; Mrs Sylvia Cadwallader, his/her wife; Mr Wilson; Linda Darling
Musical style mix:

Rap/pop; musicalized verbatim; classic musical theatre

Energetic, dark, humorous, uplifting

Setting and action are abstract, driven by music/dance.
Verbatim source: The trial of Decker & Trowland, April 2023.    Decker and Trowland climbed the Dartford Bridge and stopped traffic for two days.  Found guilty of obstructing the public – imprisoned for up to 3 years.
Who could do it?: Mid-scale: found spaces; colleges, festivals, touring theatres; the Inns of Court; large scale: the National, RSC.
Who’s writing?:

Kitch – rap/composer

Ian Grant – book and lyrics

Candida Caldicot – songwriter/composer

Christopher Walker– music supervisor and composer
A row of seven headshots. The first is a headshot of Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong, a black woman with chin length braids and dark brown eyes. She is wearing a black, ribbed turtleneck top. The second is a headshot of Sophie-Louise Dann, a middle-aged white woman with short ginger hair. She had light green eyes. She is wearing glossy coral lipstick and a dark teal fair isle jumper. The background is grey. The third is a headshot of Shobna Gulati, a middle-aged brown non-binary person with long dark grey hair. They have a mole above the left side of their lips and strong, manicured dark eyebrows. The background is dark grey and they are wearing an olive green shirt. The fourth is a headshot of Amy Parker, a white woman with brown hair which is tied up. She has blue eyes and is wearing a square golden earring and a golden pendant necklace over a blue t-shirt. The background is dark grey. The fifth is a headshot of Jack Reitman, a young white man with short dark hair and brown eyes. He is wearing a dark green, corduroy shirt. The top button is open and some chest hair shows. The background is textured grey. The sixth is a headshot of Clive Rowe, a middle-aged black man with very short hair. He smiles with his mouth closed. He is wearing a burgundy button-up top and standing in front of a green hedge. The seventh is a headshot of EM Williams, a young non-binary mixed-race person with hair shaved at the sides and with short blond-tipped curls on top. They have a septum piercing and a hoop in their right earlobe. The background is grey and they are wearing a white sweatshirt. The actors names are written at the bottom of each headshot.
Two girls in school blazers face each other on stage. One is brown skinned with braids, the other is white and has a blonde plait.They both hold scripts in their hands. Behind them is a brick wall hung with the Morpeth academy crest and on either side pop art style portraits. On the stage there is a keyboard, a drum kit, 3 amps and a yellow chair.

Co-creating Time-bomb with our new audience

Time-bomb is inspired by events that happened in Essex, north Kent and by the ripple effects on those travelling in and out of East London. It looks closely at the effect the climate emergency has on Gen Z.  To support the work that we’ve been doing developing...
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