What if bricks were made from mushrooms, cities were built like a sponge, and children’s ideas made a difference? How would it feel if it all turned out ok?
Awareness of the climate crisis & its impacts has grown hugely in recent years. Yet the focus is on the horrors that unfold if we stick with the status quo. Unearthing these horrors isn’t igniting change fast enough; we think it’s time for a different approach focussed on hope, optimism and big ideas.
Meet a performer, close your eyes and experience a guided visualisation. Listen through headphones to a cycle of climate good news. Follow paths and roots of reused materials to create a landscape. Share a story for a liveable future on a postcard and add it to our growing archive of hope.
The future might not be in front of us after all; maybe it’s behind, within or between things.
Supported by Arts Council England 2026. Recipient of Camden People's Theatre's Outside The Box Commission 2022. Supported by the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation and The University of St Andrews' Impact and Innovation Fund 2024.
"An oasis of hope against a backdrop of political despair"
Audience Member
"A bit of euphoria"
Audience Member
"I felt so inspired after today, ready to take on whatever I can"
Audience Member
A book documenting ideas, feelings and stories for the future.
In THIS IS WHAT UTOPIA LOOKS LIKE, audience members were invited to imagine a liveable future and share their responses on postcards with prompts:
What If....
Share a story for a liveable future
How will it feel when it all turns out ok?
We've carefully curated a publication documenting these responses, from over 200 postcards gathered in performances since 2024. Together, they form a new narrative, a new story for the future. As a reader, we invite you to add your own ideas to the book, as we continue to grow our archive of hope.
£10 each (all proceeds support ShyBairn's future work)
Printed sustainably on recycled paper
Delivered to UK addresses - an online version is also available, contact us if you'd like to access it.
If you would like to order but can't afford a copy at present, please drop us an email and we will happily support.
If you have any questions please email: shybairntheatre@gmail.com
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2026
Cody Dock, London
Sat 18th & Sun 19th July
2pm, 3.15pm, 4.30pm, 6.30pm, 7.30pm
2024
Camden People's Theatre, London, England
St Andrews Botanic Gardens, St Andrews, Scotland
2022-23
work-in-progress
Camden People's Theatre, London, England
DIRECTOR: Caitlin Evans
DESIGNER: Nic Farr
TECHNICAL STAGE MANAGER & LIGHTING DESIGNER: James Dolan
PERFORMER: Kathrine Payne
SOUND DESIGNER - CODY DOCK: Helen Anahita Wilson
SOUND DESIGNER: Carla Ng
PRODUCER: Caitlin Evans
ASSISTANT PRODUCER - CODY DOCK: Grace O'Brien
PRODUCING PLACEMENT in R&D: Domi Ucar
Developed with students at Parliament Hill School, Camden Youth Theatre and St Andrews university, alongside climate academics through UCL Culture, and climate activists. Participants responded to a creative invitation to imagine a liveable future. These responses were used to devise a performance installation, using materials, movement, sound and text to create an space for radical imagination and climate optimism.
"it made me think in a way I hadn’t thought about the
climate crisis"
Year 9 student
"a joy to participate... and learn about my idea of a
utopia! I would love it if there were other workshops
like that in the future."
Year 9 Student
“It is more important than ever to harness the optimism
& imagination required to build the world we so urgently
need. We need a new narrative, a new story for the
future.”
Alice Aedy - Climate Storyteller
