Oxford Climate Research Network
UPCOMING EVENT: Putting climate negotiations on stage: A roundtable with the writers of Kyoto
Tuesday 11th March 2025
17:00 - 18:30 Roundtable
18:30 - 19:00 Drinks Reception
St Catherine's College, Mary Sunley Lecture Theatre
Booking required: book tickets here
The play Kyoto is a new political thriller about the United Nations climate change negotiations that led to the landmark Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Kyoto recently transferred from the RSC to London’s West End, where it is playing until May 2025.
On Tuesday 11th of March, we will welcome the writers Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson for a roundtable about their play and the process of dramatising international climate negotiations. They will be joined by respondents from Oxford’s research community, Lavanya Rajamani (Professor of International Environmental Law) and Kirsten Shepherd (Professor of English and Theatre Studies). The session will be chaired by Roberta Wilkinson (Oxford Climate Research Network; Geologise Theatre).
This event is co-hosted by Oxford Climate Research Network and St Catherine's College in association with the board of the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professorship in Contemporary Theatre.
Kyoto by Joe Murphy & Joe Robertson. Currently playing at Soho Place until 3 May 2025. An RSC, Good Chance, Rachel Styne & Jessica Foung co-production. Image (c) Manuel Harlan
Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson: Oxford alumni Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson are the writers of Kyoto, created by their theatre company Good Chance in co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which premiered at the Swan Theatre in Stratford upon Avon in 2024 directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin (The Crown, Stranger Things The First Shadow). Kyoto is now running at @sohoplace in London's West End until 3 May 2025 as an RSC, Good Chance, Rachel Styne & Jessica Foung co-production. Joe and Joe's debut play, The Jungle, came from their seven months running a theatre, the Good Chance Dome, in the Calais Refugee camp. The Jungle premiered at the Young Vic in 2017 before transferring to London's West End, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC. Joe and Joe are the Co-Artistic Directors of Good Chance.
Professor Lavanya Rajamani: Lavanya is Professor of International Environmental Law at the University of Oxford, and Yamani Fellow in Public International Law at St Peter’s College. Prior to this, she was a Professor at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, where she now holds a Visiting Professorship. Lavanya’s academic work is informed by extensive practice, including working as a negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States, as a legal advisor to the UN Climate Secretariat, and as part of the UNFCCC core drafting and advisory team at the 2015 Paris negotiations.
Professor Kirsten Shepherd: Kirsten is a Professor of English and Theatre Studies in the Faculty of English at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow at St Catherine's College. Her research encompasses three main areas of interest: the interaction between theatre and science, including research on theatre and climate change; the writings of Henrik Ibsen; and the relationship between modernism and theatrical performance. Her books include Science on Stage: From Doctor Faustus to Copenhagen (2006); Theatre and Evolution from Ibsen to Beckett (2015); The Cambridge Companion to Theatre and Science (2020); and Modern Drama: A Very Short Introduction (2016).
Dr Roberta Wilkinson (chair): Roberta has a PhD in Earth Sciences and leads on engagement with policy and the public for the Oxford Climate Research Network, the community of researchers working on climate change at the University of Oxford. She is also Co-director of Geologise Theatre who make theatre for young audiences themed around climate change, earth science, and the environment. She wrote the script and co-wrote the lyrics for Geologise Theatre’s climate change show, Chrissie and the Skiddle Witch, which is touring schools across England and Wales in 2025.
