Bradán Theatre: climate action meets gig theatre
Foodies and music lovers, gather around. We got the opportunity to meet Kate Bauer and James Ireland from Bradán Theatre to discuss the creative process of their latest projects. It’s story time...
Bradán Theatre is an eco-theatre company with a knack for musical storytelling. Their shows My Lover Was a Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse and Cooking the Vegan Salmon of Knowledge tackle large corporations’ accountability in the climate crisis through performances infused with Irish mythology, folk tunes & culinary experiences.Â
📸: Rory Gradon
At #edfringe2022 we were 🤩🤩 by My Lover Was a Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse, in which an Irish Folk gig spirals into an absurdist dramedy about the horrors of salmon farming.
Like the committed stalkers theatre groupies that we are, we tracked them down met Bradán last month, following their run of Cooking the Vegan Salmon of Knowledge at the @dublinfringefest. Co-founders Kate & James shared how essential community building & collaboration are for & in their work, from theatre-making to environmentalism…
…After becoming friends at Trinity College, James and Kate got in the habit of cooking together whilst jamming to tunes. The combination of music and food became key. As Kate says: “Music & food are tangible. They are strong things─ people respond to them. Through them, we can think of the environment in tangible, accessible ways”. Not to mention the community-building quality that homemade meals & catchy melodies bring to the table. Environmentalism can be an anxiety-inducing topic, so both shows aim to put audiences in a safe space to tackle it as if getting a “warm hug from the biosphere”...Â
📸: Kate Bauer and James Ireland
…Bradán’s creative process marinated within Dublin’s devised theatre scene, which they consider incredibly horizontal. “Collaborative designing streamlines the process & releases [the artist] from the fear”. The approach behind My Lover Was a Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse was super collaborative. Kate and James worked with musicians through a slow-simmering R&D process to strike the right tone before writing down a script for VAULT Festival in London (2022 edition─ cancelled due to the challenges posed by COVID-19’s OMICRON variant), Eventually, the show made its way to #Edfringe22…
…In contrast, Cooking the Vegan Salmon of Knowledge, a culinary performance with live music, stemmed from an article that James wrote in October 2020 and discusses the human impact on the environment through the history of food. The show, which includes a food-tasting experience as part of the community ethos & adds a ritualistic quality with guitar-led melodies, piggybacked on the lessons from Bradán’s run at Edinburgh and strived to create a safe place for audiences…Â
📸: Kate Bauer and James Ireland
…Ultimately, Bradán discovered, a fringe run is financially & mentally exhausting, and it takes a village to sustain a show. James & Kate expressed feelings of gratitude inspired by friends, family, colleagues and audiences, who generously and passionately supported their projects, a gift they wish to repay by promoting a sustainable world that includes sustainable theatre.Â
