New play Deluge examines people's responses to the climate crisis, coming to The Spring Arts Centre in Havant

It’s just rain, isn’t it? Or is it more evidence that the climate crisis is real?

This the premise of Deluge, a new play written and directed by award-winning playwright Jacquie Penrose for The Bench Theatre Company.

This is Zee and Tony’s house – his sister Caz has arrived unexpectedly. And Irene and Josh seek shelter when their bungalow is flooded. They all camp out in the small upstairs study – to some this feels like ridiculous overkill – to others an essential precaution. And how to look to the future and make rational decisions – when immediate personal issues seem more important.

Jacquie reveals her inspiration for the play came from simply seeing a butterfly in her garden. ‘I got all anxious and upset,’ she recalls, ‘and it occurred to me, why am I get so excited about seeing one butterfly when I'm old enough to remember when the garden was full of them. It was vivid evidence of how far we've travelled downhill within my own living memory.

‘From there I thought instead of whinging about it, why not turn it into a play? Then I was trying to find the right way to tell it – people don't want to go to the theatre for a lecture about climate change – you can open the papers or switch the telly on if you want that.

‘I wanted it to be about people – how we you, us, the people around us, react to what is now an unavoidable problem. People are either ignoring it or trying to deal with it, but even if you're ignoring it you're aware that it's happening. I wanted to put together a group of people who had a different reactions to a crisis, hence the deluge.

‘The thing is so big and the potential so terrifying, it's easier to put your fingers in your ears and go “lalalala”. If you really stare it in the face it is genuinely frightening. Avoidance is very comfortable!’

For those who think this all sounds like it could be grim fare, Jacquie adds: ‘It's actually very funny. Partly because people are ridiculous and in extremis we tend to get more ridiculous, and because these are British people that politeness we're a bit prone to, even in a crisis, have that need to not make a fuss. That sort of bubbles up too.

‘A friend of mine who read it came up with a lovely phrase: “experiencing Armageddon as social embarrassment”, and that's there.’

‘You kind of don't want to believe things are as bad as they say, so you tend to play it down, until it's unavoidably dropped on your head – like the Daily Mail going on about snowflakes over the 40 degree heat: “Why don't we just pull ourselves together and get on with it?” There's that to it too – not wanting to treating it as seriously as you should, in case you're caught out overreacting.

And as Jacqui wrote the play, she’s found herself being overtaken by real world events.

‘I've only been writing it for about 18 months and it's been getting out of date almost week by week, I've had to amend the script to catch up with events as they're happening!’

Somewhat ironically, rehearsals actually began for Deluge when we were experiencing the August heatwave.

‘Our very first rehearsal was that weekend when the temperature hit 40 degrees. So we were sweating our way through the early rehearsals, and conversely, because I've also done the soundtrack for this, I've spent hours listening to rain while looking at my garden which has been dying of drought.’

Deluge is at The Spring Arts Centre, Havant from September 14-17. There will be a QA with cast and writer/director after the performance on Friday, 16.

For tickets, go to thespring.co.uk. First night is buy one ticket, get one half-price.