Interview: 'This Action Was Not Taken Lightly': Zoe Cohen of JUST STOP OIL on Disrupting LES MISERABLES, Climate Action and Theatre's Role in Creating Change.

On 4 October, five protesters stormed the stage during performance of Les Misérables in London. JUST STOP OIL is a nonviolent civil resistance group demanding the UK Government stop licensing all new oil, gas and coal projects. 

During the performance of the song, "Do You Hear the People Sing?" the protesters invaded the stage while unveiling banners displaying anti-fossil fuel messaging. The group then locked themselves to the stage, forcing theatre staff to evacuate the space. The audience was asked to leave, and the performance was unable to continue.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Zoe Cohen, a representative of JUST STOP OIL, about why the group targeted the show and what theatre can do to make a difference to climate change.

Tell us a little about the motivation behind JUST STOP OIL's interruption of Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre?

Just like the revolutionaries featured in the story, the five young supporters of JUST STOP OIL are calling on everyone to take a stand against the government’s criminal plans to “max out our oil and gas reserves” and to join in civil resistance against new fossil fuels. There's no major cultural event that isn't worth non-violently disrupting, given the genocide that this and other governments are pursuing through new oil and gas projects.

As a recent peer reviewed paper found; on current trajectory, land that's currently home to two billion people will be uninhabitable in the lifetimes of today's children. Are you OK with that?

Was Les Misérables and specifically the song “Do You Hear The People Sing” a deliberate choice of show and/or song to disrupt and if so, why?

Yes of course. Les Misérables tells the story of students in France in 1832 who rose up against a government which could no longer govern in the best interests of the people.  A government which imprisoned people for stealing food for a child.  A government which lived in luxury while women were forced to sell their hair, their teeth and their bodies to support their children. We know what inequality looked like then, we know what it looks like now, and we know what it will look like in the future.

The students who took action at the Sondheim are in exactly the same position as the students in the show: we cannot admire Marius and his comrades without also admiring them. These young people see a government which is prioritising its own interests while destroying the hope that they have for their future. They see a system which is rigged against them. They see a government which, against the clear warnings of the UN, the WHO, the International Energy Agency and the world’s climate scientists, is opening 100 new oil and gas fields in the North Sea to “max out our oil and gas reserves”, while fossil-fuel induced climate breakdown accelerates all around us.  These young people will not accept it. This show cannot go on.

How do you think disrupting specifically cultural events helps to further your cause?

Firstly, it's not a 'cause' and it's not 'ours' either. It's YOUR survival, and YOUR kids' survival, and everything YOU love and care about and need for a life worth living. We are accelerating past tipping points and facing total societal, economic and ecological collapse. That is not a ‘cause’. It’s everything, everywhere, forever.

The students who took this action did so out of desperation. They would not normally wish to disrupt the work of talented creative professionals or an audience who have paid to see a show they love – but these are not normal times. Supporters of JUST STOP OIL take actions like this because all other attempts at raising our voices and demanding change have failed. We do it because the magnitude of the existential crisis we are in demands that we throw our bodies onto the line. Like the Parisian students of 1832, we are fighting for our lives, and your lives too.

What would you say to the people in the theatre that night who were evacuated, many of whom had spent large amounts of money on their tickets?

I would say look at the heat, drought, fires, floods and super storms happening around the world. Look at the millions already struggling to eat. See how the cost-of-living crisis here in the UK is being driven by the cost of oil and gas, the greed of those in power and by the ‘heatflation’ itself driving up costs of food. There is no ‘safe country’, and no one is coming to save us. They need to join and support JUST STOP OIL, then they can look their kids in the eye and say they did everything they could. Go to our website and sign up for a talk this week. It is time for us all to decide who we are.

Theatre has done much to highlight the climate crisis in plays such as Duncan MacMillan’s Lungs and Steve Waters’ The Contingency Plan. There are also projects such as the Theatre Green Book –the initiative by the UK theatre industry to work more sustainably. Do you think it has done enough as an industry?

No. Nowhere near. Incrementalism is deadly, and so is obedience.

What do you think theatre can contribute to the discussion about climate change?

Here are four clear contributions:

• As an industry come together now and demand that the UK Government end new oil and gas as a first step towards a real transition
• Support all your employees to take nonviolent direct action and guarantee them that they will not lose their jobs if they are arrested and get a 'criminal record' for peaceful protest in civil resistance
• For the leaders in the industry to role model taking nonviolent direct action as part of their leadership role
• For all those who can, to donate to support JUST STOP OIL

What climate initiatives would you welcome in the theatre industry?

In essence the theatre industry needs to tell the truth, and act like that truth is real.

This means that in addition to those points [above], the theatre industry needs to use its creative might to ensure stories in all its productions are based in the reality of what's unfolding. It is critical also to paint visions of what is possible when people from all walks of life come together to live in a world of more love, justice, equality and democracy to face into what's coming as our society and life support systems continue to destabilise and unravel.

I invite all in the theatre industry and everyone reading this to stand with JUST STOP OIL, and in support of the young people who took action at the Sondheim.  I acknowledge the stress and the anger that will have been experienced – this action was not taken lightly.

People are coming together from all over the UK to march day after day in London from 29 October. It’s People vs Oil. 

After police appealed for additional footage and information, five people have now been charged with aggravated trespass after the incident at the Sondheim Theatre.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement Hannah Taylor, 23, Lydia Gribbin, 28, Hanan Ameur, 22, Noah Crane, 18 and Poppy Bliss, 19, had all been charged.

Learn more about the incident and watch the video of the incident here.

Trueman and The Arsonists is at the Roundhouse from 18 October – 8 November 2023

As part of a series hosted by represent. Theatre, there will be a post-show discussion about future actions to protect the planet between the Green Party’s Zack Polanski and a representative from JUST STOP OIL, hosted by April De Angelis on the 31 October.