I’d like to begin by thanking those who took the time to complete the survey after watching the debut performance of ‘Murder in the Citizens’ Jury’. It is a brand new play, and so it’s helpful for me as writer to polish the script. It’s also useful from a research perspective, to assess the effectiveness of theatre in engaging a mainstream audience in key debates and policies.
What was so interesting about the feedback was that many of the questions raised were ones I’m grappling with myself. One said it didn’t deal with the fundamental issue of capitalism. A surprising number of people agree that capitalism is the root problem when it comes to climate – even top business managers and media executives. But is it possible to overthrow, what would happen if we try and what would take its place? These are big unknowns, and we are understandably scared. The prevailing approach is to continue to operate within our current system. However, changes so far are piecemeal, and insufficient to avert a climate crisis. For me, personal carbon allowances provide a way through some of these dilemmas, fundamentally changing the incentives within the system in an equitable way. This was one of the ideas audience members were keen to learn more about, and you can learn more about the ideas included here.
People understood that the dilemma was whether to prosecute a murderer, not whether to actually murder someone. However, it was interesting that it occasionally led to a debate about whether murder itself could ever be justified. Just for the record I’m not promoting assassination as a climate solution! Assassinating an oil executive, for example, will just result in less transparency about who is making these decisions. If you assassinate a government leader standing against climate policies, then nice people you’d trust in charge of our country would be nervous about standing as an MP and exposing themselves to that kind of violence. Especially women who seem to be particular targets for aggression. We’d get more toxic alpha male types with bigger security teams. And what about those who get caught in the crossfire? Do we even know the name of the person in the crowd who lost their life when the bullet missed Trump?
Many commented on the great sound and lighting effects. From the script development point of view, some of the cast and crew mentioned the transitions between scenes were challenging to stage, which occasionally impeded the flow. Adapting from a TV script, meant that I’d got a little cavalier with the transitions. In a professional production with all the mod cons, this would be fine, but I will work on a version for amateur theatre. I will also move the interval a little earlier.
The interactive element went down very well, and I must have pitched the dilemma about right as a different result was obtained each time. SPOILER WARNING: CLICKING PLAY WILL REVEAL THE MURDERER!
A few comments suggested I could cut some of the technical information and statistics. But most of those very same people said I got the balance between entertainment and education just right. Perhaps because one applies different criteria. The goal was also to educate and almost everyone said it made them think or stimulated debate. Some said they were still discussing the issues days later. Also, citizens assembly participants would be exposed to facts and figures, so that aspect needs to be represented. I will shave the technical information a little, especially in the first half.
One person was worried about the use of a whodunnit and humour when engaging with serious or sensitive topics. But I believe the popularity of cosy mysteries, whodunits, and also comedy are precisely that they allow us to deal with our fears in a safe space. In whodunnits, no one seems to mind when people die. It takes some of the sting out of it and enables us to process our own feelings. Bad things happen, whether we laugh or cry about them. In a standard whodunnit, it’s expected as part of the genre that motives for murder draw on our darkest sides. However, this play explicitly aims also to educate which may bring a different expectation to what is acceptable. This is a challenge of education-entertainment as a field, and I appreciate the feedback I’ve had so far. I wondered about trigger warnings, but I couldn’t think how to phrase them without introducing spoilers. If the play is professionally produced, advice will be taken on that aspect.
The cast would have liked more time to rehearse. One drawback of external funding is that it needs to be spent by the deadline, so Maskers kindly squeezed this in between their two big summer and winter productions.
So far, most said they definitely enjoyed it, would recommend it, and learned something from it. Many asked for further information on the ideas included. Several of the comments highlighted particular lines that they loved or laughed at. The constructive criticism is welcomed for script development and all the positive comments bring joy to my heart and have helped to make all the work worthwhile. Thanks especially to those who completed the survey despite their annoyance at the use of Amazon vouchers as a reward. In fact, that was the biggest criticism I got from verbal feedback!
The university often give out vouchers as rewards for taking part in research and it would be lovely to have a voucher, like a kind of green card, you could use in local shops like October Books or spend at vegan cafes like Café Thrive. I made some efforts towards that but didn’t follow it through. My experience is that everyone says, ‘what a good idea’, then nothing happens. Institutionalising change takes consistent effort. I don’t have the capacity as I’m currently combining being a lecturer, researcher, and writer, but I’d be happy to help anybody who is willing to work to change the default voucher we offer to a more sustainable alternative. The challenges are that it needs to be easy for the short-staffed purchasing team to process and provide a sufficient incentive for participants.
Future plans: I am polishing the script based on feedback, and also working on shorter versions suitable for schools to put on. Many said they’d visit a library of things, or use on-demand bus services if they were available, so I’m keen to stage the play in regions which have such services.
Finally, thanks to British Academy who part-funded this as part of the Shape Involve and Engage Fund, the University of Southampton, and especially to the Maskers cast and crew who took a chance on something different and brought the story to life.
More information on how the audience voted and their favourite policies are on the green stories website.