The View From 2038: The View From Portobello

The Royal Lyceum, 2018

Isla's environmental play 'The View From Portobello' was commissioned by David Greig as part of LYT's 20th Anniversary production, a series of plays reflecting on the last twenty years and predicting the next twenty to come...

"Imagining the world in twenty year's time is an interesting project, because it’s not so futuristic that you imagine flying cars or apocalyptic disaster, but it’s far enough away that you know things won’t be exactly the same as today. 'The View From Portobello' takes an environmental slant on this, and predicts the future impact of rising sea levels on Edinburgh’s coastline. We know that, if we don't change our current habits, by the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean (by weight) and in 2070 we’ll have seen a dramatic erosion of our coastlines, and destruction to low lying cities. 'The View From Portobello' investigates how much of this impact we might be likely to see in 2038, but imagines it through the eyes of the young people, in a timeline of memories. I wanted to write a piece that was local and of intimate importance to the young people, but that also responded to the realities of climate change across the world. I’m so pleased by how the company has embraced the text and taken real ownership of the play – to me, that is the most important and most rewarding thing when writing for young performers. " 

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