We spoke with Chelsea Walker, director of On the Beach, and Caroline Steinbeis, director of Resilience, the two plays which make up The Contingency Plan. Sheffield Theatres' updated version of Steve Waters’ climate-emergency double bill opens in the Crucible on Fri 14 and Sat 15 October.

Can you tell us about The Contingency Plan and what it’s about?

Chelsea Walker: The Contingency Plan is made up of two plays. One, On the Beach, is a moving family drama, and the other one, Resilience is a very funny political farce. And so both of them look at the issue of how we're tackling climate change, but in very different, very human ways.

So there are two productions, two directors, and one cast. What challenges and opportunities have come from that?

Caroline Steinbeis: We are making two main-house shows in six weeks’ time when normally you might have that time to make one show. So the question is how do we divide our time? How do we divide our energies? But more excitingly, how can we support each other? As a director, you don't often get the opportunity to work with another director, so to be able to work with Chelsea who's so open and collaborative is a very rare thing. We've spent a long time together looking at these plays and it's been a fantastic experience. So I recommend it.

Do you have similar styles as directors?

Chelsea Walker: I think we have quite similar approaches to working with our companies and to text. But I think where we differ is really exciting because then it pushes the other into a territory that you might not normally go into.

Caroline Steinbeis: And where one person has one thought, that usually opens up space for the other to reflect and ask deeper questions. So there's a lot of crossover.

How have you influenced each other?

Caroline Steinbeis: The whole project has grown together more and more. We are working with one set designer on one stage with a shared company of actors, and the plays comprise one piece. So there has been a real journey towards finding what that looks like. I think we've hugely influenced each other, and your aesthetic has influenced how I think about this project, and your rhythm has influenced how I think about the plays too.

Chelsea Walker: Agreed. The plays can be viewed alone. They're standalone, but what we're really excited about is that they are one big project and they do influence each other. And if you see one play, there are really satisfying parallels in the other. And to echo Caroline, working with her has really influenced my room and my approach to these texts.

Caroline Steinbeis: The most satisfying way of experiencing both plays individually, is to come and see both. Because the echoes that you hear across the two pieces are very profound and affecting to catch from an audience's perspective. So I can't wait to see them both play back to back.

How have you worked together to create two standalone productions that also work as a double bill?

Caroline Steinbeis: A lot of our process happened around the model box with the designer. We read the plays separately and at times together, but really it was looking at what space we were going to create that unpacked what we were going to be making, right?

Chelsea Walker: Absolutely. Our designer, Georgia Lowe, is brilliant and definitely stepped up to the task of creating one space that holds two very different worlds and plays that are written in quite different styles as well. It's kind of incredible the feat that she has pulled off. We've developed the work together with Steve Waters, and we've created a set and costume design with Georgia for both shows, and Guy Hoare and Giles Thomas have created lighting design and sound design that complement each other as well.

The production has a focus on being sustainable. How did that come about?

Caroline Steinbeis: When you're making two pieces that focus on the problems of climate change, the question of sustainability has to be front and centre because to do anything else would feel hypocritical. But making sustainable shows in the middle of an approaching recession, is incredibly challenging. Working sustainably is expensive. There's a huge movement towards working to what's called the Theatre Green Book, which is about trying to make plays that use recycled materials and think more carefully about energy. Not just where your budget goes, but where the overall resources of a production might go. And it's a real rewire that's happening across the industry and it's very challenging because it costs more.

Chelsea Walker: Making theatre sustainably is what we should all be doing. And there is a huge amount of will and effort across the theatre industry to do that, but it does require systematic change across the entire industry because in order to make something sustainable, you have to make that decision months in advance, and it has to drive every single decision as you create a play.

Why should people come and see The Contingency Plan?

Chelsea Walker: I think people should come and see The Contingency Plan because it is about the greatest issue that we are currently facing as humanity. It’s a political play, and that is exciting and important and necessary, but it’s not didactic, it’s not trying to bang you over the head with an issue. It gives us an excellent, human way into this huge topic that we often don’t know how to think about.

Caroline Steinbeis: I know you're going to be absolutely riveted by the plays.