Don't Panic
by Taylor Carmen
Roman Cowboy Productions • The Etcetera Theatre • 2026
Roman Cowboy Productions • The Etcetera Theatre • 2026
A darkly comic dystopian two-hander set in a theatre at the end of the world, exploring hope, human connection and the defiant act of continuing to create when everything seems doomed.
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The ProductionSet in New York in 2108, Don’t Panic finds two stagehands trapped inside a rundown theatre during a nuclear warfare drill. As the possibility of catastrophe outside becomes increasingly real, the theatre becomes a place to question what — if anything — is worth holding onto.
I was drawn to the tension at the heart of the play: it is deeply funny while asking genuinely existential questions about hope, connection and the purpose of making art in a world that feels increasingly impossible to fix. Rather than trying to make the production feel conventionally dystopian, I wanted to begin with something recognisable: two people, a theatre and all the ordinary objects left lying around inside it. |
The Theatre at the End of the World
Making the venue part of the story.
The Etcetera already had so much of the world we needed. Rather than disguising the room and building a fictional theatre inside it, I wanted to use what was actually there — its walls, its entrances, its technical equipment and the accumulated mess of making theatre.
That allowed the venue to become almost a third character. The audience weren't looking through a fourth wall at two stagehands trapped in a theatre; they were sitting inside that theatre with them.
As the outside world became increasingly uncertain, this small, imperfect performance space became somewhere the characters could still imagine, play and make something together.
That allowed the venue to become almost a third character. The audience weren't looking through a fourth wall at two stagehands trapped in a theatre; they were sitting inside that theatre with them.
As the outside world became increasingly uncertain, this small, imperfect performance space became somewhere the characters could still imagine, play and make something together.
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A Glimpse of Another WorldThe production largely remained grounded in the reality of these two stagehands, contemplating their lives, their existence and the possibility of hope in a world that is slowly dying. I wanted the theatrical language to stay simple and rooted in the space they inhabited, allowing one moment of magical realism to feel genuinely transformative.
During a meditation, the characters imagine themselves away from the concrete world they have always known and into a forest. Using only what was already around them, plastic sheeting became something fluid and organic, moving around their bodies as they danced together. I was interested in how we could create something beautiful without introducing anything that didn't belong in their world. For a brief moment, the ordinary materials of the theatre were seen differently, allowing these two characters to experience a version of the natural world they had been denied. The moment wasn't an escape from the questions at the heart of the play, but a way of deepening them: what does it mean to hope for something you have never known, particularly when the world capable of giving it to you is disappearing? “The moment would not feel out of place on the stage of Sadler’s Wells in the midst of a ballet.” Everything Theatre |
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Comedy at the End of the World
The comedy was essential. The more frightening the circumstances became, the more important it was that these characters remained funny, ridiculous and recognisably human.
I wanted the humour to emerge from their relationship rather than sit on top of the darker material. Comedy became a survival mechanism: a way of avoiding what was happening, connecting with one another and finding moments of pleasure when there might not be much left to laugh about.
I wanted the humour to emerge from their relationship rather than sit on top of the darker material. Comedy became a survival mechanism: a way of avoiding what was happening, connecting with one another and finding moments of pleasure when there might not be much left to laugh about.
Why I Make Theatre
At the centre of Don’t Panic is a question I find difficult to separate from making theatre now: what is the value of creating something when the world around us feels increasingly unstable?
The production didn't need to provide an answer. What interested me was the act itself. Two people in a room choose to keep playing, imagining and connecting with one another despite having no guarantee that any of it will matter.
There is something both absurd and hopeful in that — and something that feels fundamental to theatre.
The production didn't need to provide an answer. What interested me was the act itself. Two people in a room choose to keep playing, imagining and connecting with one another despite having no guarantee that any of it will matter.
There is something both absurd and hopeful in that — and something that feels fundamental to theatre.
Building the World
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Cast
Mani: Taylor Carmen Kid: Gabrielle-Norma Griffin |
Creative
Writer: Taylor Carmen Director: Kay Brattan Producer: Cristiano Benfenati: Set Designer: Lucy Ruff Lighting Designer: David Murray Photos by Pacifica Zhang |
Press
★★★★
“Kay Brattan’s directing draws even more beauty from the performance. She has a flair for movement which is so evident here… It is simply stunning.”
Everything Theatre
“Kay Brattan’s directing draws even more beauty from the performance. She has a flair for movement which is so evident here… It is simply stunning.”
Everything Theatre
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★★★★
“An elegant and compelling piece of world-building from writer Taylor Carmen and Director Kay Brattan.” The Live Review |
