Performing arts can tell new climate justice stories

Written By Peter Allan

Anna Bigland-Pritchard, centre, and the creative team. Photo submitted by Anna Bigland-Pritchard

 

By By Patricia Lane & Anna Bigland-Pritchard

These in-their-own-words pieces are told to Patricia Lane and co-edited with input from the interviewee for the purpose of brevity.

Anna Bigland-Pritchard uses opera to raise awareness of queer and environmental issues. As co-founder of Gay4Nature, she and her colleagues invite audiences to explore classical music through a queer and ecological lens.

Tell us about your project.

With Alex Chen, my co-director, pianist and singer, we are currently in post-production for Green, a film funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. The film is set to music by Debussy and explores eco-anxiety and queer joy.

What will audiences experience?

I play a young queer person who finds herself increasingly isolated as she suffers debilitating climate grief and anxiety. Her life begins to turn when a friend takes her to a country fair for some fresh air and wholesome fun. There, she meets another queer person and falls in love. Through these relationships, she is able to develop resilience and claim joy as her birthright.

The saga is told in six separate and beautifully filmed music videos, which tie together to form the whole, each with costumes, acting and dancing. I sing Debussy’s six-song cycle, Ariettes oublieés, which is full of natural imagery poetry.

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