Farm Fatale Debuts Climate Scarecrow Show at Southbank
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- Farm Fatale is a French production first created in Germany and performed in English at Southbank, featuring five scarecrows with melted plastic faces and children's voices in a climate‑crisis future.
- Philippe Quesne directed the show, applying a sociologist’s perspective and long‑term collaborations with his actors.
- Nicole Marianna Wytyczak designed the bleached set of white plastic and hay bales that serve as the stage’s visual backdrop.
- Gaëtan Vourc’h plays a gormless activist, delivering ebullient strangeness that stands out among the cast.
- The pirate radio station run by the scarecrows includes an interview with a bee, described as one of the last in Europe, highlighting ecological loss.
- The production’s karaoke cover of “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green” underscores its theme of art as salvation amid climate despair.
Why it matters: The production foregrounds how industrial farmers are capitalising on climate‑driven ruin, while the displaced scarecrows embody the loss of small‑scale agriculture, giving audiences a stark, artistic illustration of who benefits and who suffers in a warming world and underscore the urgency of rethinking food systems.
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