WASTELAND
SUSTAINABLE RELATIONSHIPS OUTLAST PRODUCTS
Written by Nicola Baldwin
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This is the story of one night… the night before the launch of LOU’s prize-winning green department building, and the first shift back at work for ROSA after the cleaners' strike; meanwhile student JESS races against time in the 24 hour library before her café job.
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Rosa has cleaned Lou’s office for three years, but they have never met. Jess is desperate for a tutorial. When environmental protestors occupy the foyer, the three women are trapped inside. As they escape through sub-basement ducts, the building becomes an unpredictable border-zone. Nothing is as they imagined. Can they rely on each other?
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What does ‘zero waste’ mean, applied to people? What use are ‘sustainable’ products if their producers are disposable? Why do we find it easier to talk about recycling than global inequality that drives waste production?
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…WASTELAND is being completed thanks to Adopt-A-Playwright, Sofie Mason, Diana Jervis-Read and with dramaturgy from Kenny Emson.
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With thanks also to Dr Pushpa Arabindoo, Jordan Rowe, Stella Bruzzi, Laura Mackenzie, Catherine Stokes, Albert Brenchat Aguilar, Jordi Lopez and IWGB members; UCL Institute of Advanced Studies and UCL Urban Lab; Incomplete first draft readings 2020-2021, with Rebecca Crankshaw as LOU, Jimena Larraguivel as ROSA. Tara Kearney as JESS, Shreya Patel as 'THE PLAY'
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Nicola was an inaugural Creative Fellow at UCL Urban Laboratory & UCL Institute of Advanced Studies 2019-2021, exploring their joint research theme of Waste through film and drama. She worked with Dr Pushpa Arabindoo on City Dionysia: Narrating Wasteland in Urban Life.
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