By Angie Farrow
INFERNO
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ANGIE FARROW
Author and professor Angelina (Angie) Farrow was born in 1951 in the United Kingdom. She studied at the University of Exeter and worked as a professor at Massey University in New Zealand. In 2011 she was awarded Lecturer of the Year and in 2022 she was appointed as professor emeritus at Massey. Farrow has written numerous plays for the stage and for radio, as well as written published books on the production of physical theater. In 2021 during the New Year Honors ceremony, Farrow was appointment as the New Zealand Order of Merit (OZNM)
WHY THIS PLAY NOW?
We chose to do Inferno as one of our Climate Justice performances as the play spoke to many of us in the group on a personal level. This summer was a new world record for the hottest summer to date, and those rising temperatures mixed with heightened winds caused a deadly amount of wildfires throughout the world. Maui, Canada, and California are notable ones, but we especially want to bring light to those wildfires that have not gotten as much media coverage worldwide that still affect us as justice seeking individuals. Many of the wildfires that have been happening more and more often in Sicily have been largely caused by human beings: leaving lit cigarettes on the ground, improper use of open flame, and other dangerous catalysts, coupled with the increasing heat and the high speed winds have triggered mass fires that devastated families and homes. These wildfires spread so quickly because of the winds and the dry land surrounding Sicily that they can rage on for months on end as firefighters and volunteers struggle to keep the flames under control and find the root cause. Inferno is an important play to put on right now riding the tails of the hottest summer in history to spread awareness of the devastation caused by both climate change and human indecency.
ACTIONS
We want to encourage people to donate and to provoke people to THINK: how do these fires affect us? How do these fires affect others? How can we find it within ourselves to have empathy for those people who live halfway around the world? AND… rally! A lot of the wildfires are created by human hands, so we must educate ourselves on proper wilderness etiquette: Don’t throw cigarettes on the ground, don’t use an open flame outdoors (especially during windy conditions) and most of all, hold your friends and loved ones accountable. Reckless behavior is what began the Sicilian wildfires of the Summer of 2023, and it was total devastation. Hold each other accountable, and remember that your actions have real consequences.
DESIGN
For the design for Inferno, we had an abundance of potential ideas, that we pared down to create the design we ultimately went with. Initially, we were discussing the possibility of using projections to illustrating the scope of wildfires, letting it envelope the space as if the audience were experiencing a wildfire firsthand. Because we had limited access to projections due to the bounds of the space, we ultimately decided to use color temperature and intensity to emphasize the emotional beats of the monologue. Additionally, it was important for us to create a soundscape in addition to the visual elements of the production, to really immerse the audience in the experience being described.
EDUCATION
Climate change has already led to an increase in wildfire season length, wildfire frequency, and burned area. The wildfire season has lengthened in many areas due to factors including warmer springs, longer summer dry seasons, and drier soils and vegetation. The number of wildfires is expected to continue rising, and will increase by 50% globally over the next 80 years according to UN projections.
Wildfires also both expose and worsen the systemic inequalities inherent to our capitalist world. The effects of smoke from wildfires can range from eye and respiratory tract irritation to more serious disorders, including reduced lung function, bronchitis, exacerbation of asthma and heart failure, and premature death, and those most likely to be affected and least likely to be treated are people of color and the poor.
