Skriker – Dr Amy C. Chambers

Originally posted: July 2015

Maxine-Peake-as-The-Skriker-Royal-Exchange-Theatre-photo-by-Jonathan-Keenan-1024x298.png — ‘It’s a clarion call …Maybe it will make people look at what we’re doing on a global scale and how wrong it is.’ Maxine Peake

Caryl Churchill’s postmodern play The Skriker is just about to begin its final week of a sold-out run at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre and its environmentalist message is as worryingly relevant today as when it premièred at the National Theatre twenty-one years ago. This has been a summer of headlines about record-breaking temperatures; according to scientists the Earth as a whole has experienced its hottest June and the hottest first half of the year since records began. The current climate crisis is entwined with a lengthy history of industrialisation, reckless ecological practices, and the environmental movement has been blighted by financial crisis, austerity, and a political and corporate denial of this global catastrophe. Global warming and climate change are unavoidable issues that permeate news media and increasingly fictional media. Continue reading “The Skriker: Global Warming, Eco-fairytales, and Science on the Stage” →