Dear People

Bureau Vergezicht and Theater Rotterdam present: Dear People A show about the most notable climate speeches of the past 50 years, from the creators of the critically acclaimed show The Shell Case.

You have them in all shapes and sizes. Some try to connect, others to disrupt or just sow doubt: climate speeches. For nearly half a century they have been spoken on all kinds of stages by world leaders, scientists and activists. All different in tone, but what unites them is a sense of urgency and call for change. For Dear People, playwright and writer Anoek Nuyens (The Shell Case) examined climate speeches of the past 50 years. Once marked by optimism, when both left-wing and right-wing politicians like Margaret Thatcher and Richard Nixon called for tackling this “new big problem.

Now, fifty years later, optimism has given way to despair and climate activists are taking to the streets around the world. The question now on the table: what comes after this despair? Can the turning point lie in the sum of speeches? Dear People is a monologue inspired by 50 years of climate speeches. A topical performance about inspired climate language, rich imagination and poor politics and is performed by actress Hannah Hoekstra (winner Theo d'Or 2019). It is directed by Erik Whien (including Grief is the Thing with Feathers and A Case for the Existence of God).