Youth‐led theatre for climate resilience and action at COP26

Abstract The worst impacts of climate change will be felt by the most vulnerable in our society, including children and young people who will be both witness to and victim of its increasingly serious consequences. Structural power imbalances limit children and young people's agency to effect meaningful change. Presented with a unique opportunity to showcase collaborative work between academic researchers and the National Youth Theatre on the international, high‐profile stage offered by COP26, we wanted to elevate the voices of young people and explore what mattered to them about climate change. Drawing on participant journals, audience feedback, and researcher reflections, what follows is an account of our experience of the participatory development and final performance of this work, ‘On The Edge’ (OTE), a 90‐min show featuring a short play and a climate cabaret of poetry, original music, and magic. Using participant and researcher journals, the performance itself, and audience feedback, we respond to the National Youth Theatre's own provocation to the COP26 audience: was it worth it? In exploring OTE's depiction of the conflicting hierarchies of young people's care, the paper argues that theatre can act as a powerful vehicle both for articulating intersectional youth perspectives and for emotionally and cognitively engaging the public. Situating narratives of climate and flood within young people's lived experience and memories of flooding, told in their own words, gave the audience a strong sense of connection with OTE's message and motivated their intention to become better advocates and stronger campaigners for climate action. Being present and performing on the world stage of COP26 allowed the young creatives of the National Youth Theatre to be part of a historically significant event. Many of them reflected on their experience as a source of personal and professional pride, with hopeful intent of taking action for a better climate future.