Students set to take ‘Much Ado About Climate’ to Edinburgh Fringe

St Edmund Hall student Victoria Bao Wang (2025, MSc Nature, Society and Environmental Governance) and Annabelle Higgins from Hertford College successfully premiered their improvised show, Much Ado About Climate, at the Schwarzman Theatre last June. Performed by the House of Improv troupe, the show drew on Shakespeare’s archetypes and leading Oxford scholars, who guided audience members through a lively discussion of the key conversations surrounding climate change and literature.

Victoria shares her thoughts on the play and how she, Annabelle, and the House of Improv troupe came together to create this special production, which will now run for two days at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August.

“When I joined the Steering Committee for the Schwarzman Centre’s inaugural Past, Present, Future Weekender back in October 2025, I knew from the first meeting that I wanted to produce a live performance that explored the emotional and relational aspects of climate change through story. This is because I feel like climate change is often discussed from a professional or academic angle, but rarely ever through a personal lens. So continuing my cultural organising work in Toronto, I wanted to create opportunities here where people can come together and feel through the complex inner tensions around one of the greatest existential threats of our lifetime.

After seeing a few improv shows in my home city of Toronto and then participating in some open workshops at Oxford, this particular art form was seated at the forefront of my mind. The idea to produce a Shakespearean climate improv show struck me when I recalled that Shakespearean improv is a tried-and-true format of comedy, and also that Shakespeare lived through the calamitous Little Ice Age. Annabelle Higgins, another Steering Committee member, is as close to a Shakespeare expert as an undergraduate student could be. She immediately jumped on board to flesh out the idea together. That’s how we became co-producers of this event. Together, we decided that we wanted to engage wider audiences in the rich bodies of scholarship here. So Annabelle reached out to Shakespearean academics at Oxford, who could lead the audience in a reflective conversation that produced the prompts for the improv show.

But none of this could have happened without the other members of House of Improv, the troupe that played a formative hand in bringing the idea to life. As an art form in general, improv is highly collaborative. The quality of a show is always based on mutual trust, because without it, narrative lines can easily stall, and any nuggets of laughter will quickly go stale. The wonderful thing about performing in a troupe is that we get to become acquainted with each other’s strengths and styles, allowing us to bring out the best in each other. This show in particular really exemplified that synergy. While I guided the show’s thematic development and Annabelle infused our ideas with literary and historical nuance, it was Orson who conceived of the narrator as Shakespeare’s descendant, Zoë who made our titular pun on Much Ado About Nothing, and Rebecca who initially suggested a stormy Act Four for the climax in our story structure. Jimmy provided instrumental improv coaching throughout my time at Oxford, Yuhang had a knack for infusing portrayals of authority with levity, and Eimear always gave cutting insight on which ideas might work better than others. The final experience was truly a team effort.

We were so thrilled with how the show went that House of Improv will be reprising the concept at Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a two-show run, with scholars from the University of Edinburgh comprising the panel. I’m really grateful to have produced this show and performed in it under Elizabeth Lawal’s initiative at the Schwarzman, and I’m excited to create similar shows long after my time at Oxford ends.”

Details of the House of Improv’s performance at the Edinburgh Festival are available on the British Comedy Guide website and the official EdFringe event page.