Writer and performer Chris Thorpe discusses the themes and influences behind his new show Talking About The Fire; created with Director Claire O’Reilly; ahead of its UK & International tour this Spring (31st March – 22nd May 2025).
What is “Talking About The Fire” about?
It’s a conversation with the audience about the continued existence of nuclear weapons and what we can realistically do about it. That sounds heavy but it’s not – it’s got elements of storytelling, stand-up and music. It doesn’t put anyone on the spot, or crucially, expect them to have any prior knowledge – because it’s also a story about how I accidentally fell into the world of nuclear disarmament.
Why do you think it’s important that more people talk about nuclear weapons?
There’s a perception that these global issues are difficult to talk about, because the decision-making around them is the territory of ‘experts’. The show makes the case that we can all talk about them – in fact nothing gets done unless non-experts – like me and most of the audience – feel a sense of agency that allows us to start our own conversations in the places we inhabit in everyday life. With nuclear weapons specifically – they’ve kind of dropped off the map as something we feel we can do anything about, and it isn’t true. We just need to feel a sense of connection to the issue. That might be about discussing the effect of weapons use, or the scale and power of the weapons, or talking about the invisible ways they pull daily life out of shape, even if they’re not used. But the first step is realising that it actually is worth us, as ‘ordinary’ people, talking about them.
© Arnim Friess
You say that the show is a conversation with the audience – what can we expect?
We can expect to get to know each other a bit better. To know a bit more about the weapons by the end. To feel a sense of connection that maybe wasn’t there at the start – and to end up with a new and useful topic of conversation to take out into the world if we want to. And also to have a laugh.
You’ve performed Talking About The Fire at the Royal Court Theatre in London, to regional audiences across the UK, in the United States and in Oslo alongside the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize celebrations. Is the show different in those different locations?
The show’s different in every location, and no location is more useful or high-profile than another. It’s even different in the same place depending on the night, because the group of people there with me are different. The whole point of it is that the people there are experts in being themselves, and living in in the place they live in, and the nuclear weapons issue is a usually invisible part of that, and we can talk about it. And that’s true anywhere. Obviously the cultural or social rules and boundaries might be different, depending on the kind of place, the country we’re in, what’s going on politically or locally at the moment the show happens – but me and the show meet people where they are, in their place, and we always find a connection.
Visit the Talking About The Fire show page for the full list of 2025 tour venues.