Hot Mess and Acid's Reign: Musicals Tackle Climate Crisis Through Entertainment

The Rise of Climate-Conscious Musicals

Earth is a single woman with a lot to give; Humanity is a charismatic bad boy who turns out to be an inveterate taker. Their toxic relationship is told in Hot Mess, a musical created by Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote, which works both as an eccentric romcom with broad commercial appeal and a serious analogy for our abuse of the once fecund, now depleted planet. A hot ticket at the Edinburgh fringe last summer and now on in London, it is at the vanguard of a newly blooming genre of musicals about the environmental crisis.

Breaking the Climate Entertainment Mold

The RSC's The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind uses exuberant song and dance for the true story of a teenager who builds a wind turbine from an old bicycle in drought-ridden Malawi. Bryony Kimmings' Bog Witch is a one-woman show with music and standup about the plight of the planet, while in New York the folk-pop musical Dear Everything was a response to climate emergency co-written by V (formerly Eve Ensler) and narrated by Jane Fonda. Meanwhile, in the West End hit Hadestown, hell is strewn with empty oil drums.

The Art of Climate Engagement

It is exciting that there are more writers tackling the topic, says Coote, who adds that concern about the climate "is so prevalent that it would be wild if artforms were not engaging with it, actually." Significantly, these shows chime with the post-pandemic yearning for feelgood stories about pulling through together and being more responsible in relationship to the Earth. If that sounds worthy, Coote and Godfrey went through a six-year process to make sure their musical swerved any clunky polemic or leadenness of tone.

Emotional Connection Through Entertainment

Initially, the show was much more tonally serious but that changed in its early development phase. "If off the bat you are putting into people's minds that this is about the climate crisis, you get the sense of audiences not fully leaning in because you're sitting in too much of a cerebral place. So when we came to write the version for the [Edinburgh] fringe, one of our big notes to ourselves was: 'How can we disarm an audience such that they're engaging with the story emotionally and comedically so that all of those themes can be discovered more organically?'" says Coote.

The Power of Musical Hope

While plays about the climate often revolve around downbeat or dystopian scenarios, the musical as a form is hopeful, suggests Luke Howarth. He is co-writer and director of Acid's Reign, a drag musical running at the Edinburgh fringe this summer. Such plays are "often post-apocalyptic – the terrible thing has happened. I think there's a resignation to that," he says. "We've written the apocalypse many times but what we need to write instead is something that's an alternative."

The Future of Environmental Storytelling

Lucy Stone is the founder and executive director of the collective Climate Spring, which this year launched an inaugural Climate theatre prize for plays (excluding musicals), created to inspire and support more playwrights to tackle the subject. Stone says there is interesting scientific research into audiences watching live shows together, which might encourage a sense of collective action. "The audience begins to sync, including heart rates, so there's shared energy in the room... One play creating social change is a big ask, but what are they adding up to collectively?"