A timid tale of saving the world and falling in love
Just Stop Extinction Rebellion made a lot more sense to me when I read the ‘A word from the writer’ section of the programme after the performance. For two reasons, the first being the writer’s admission that he isn’t a climate activist. And the second when he suggests the play didn’t need to be set in a climate activism group; that it could have as easily been set against a choir or art club.
Plays like Just Stop Extinction Rebellion need to be written by people informed and interested in climate activism – I wasn’t expecting to leave the theatre with a ten-step plan on how to save the planet, but the script steered away from any kind of examination into the issue. A play about climate activism should be an act of climate activism itself, but Just Stop Extinction Rebellion only merely references other lightweight action we see in the news such as egging cars, and it made any purpose the production may have had feel lightweight as well.
It’s this lack of purpose which explains why Just Stop Extinction Rebellion could be set in the aforementioned choir or art club. The climate crisis seems more like a climate bit-of-bother-but-nothing-to-worry to the characters. A special mention has to go to Louise Bangay for her scene-stealing performance as Millicent Forbes-Frobisher. And her chemistry with her ex-husband (Stephen Riddle’s Henry) was the highpoint of the show – a sizzling scene which felt bigger than the stage.
Riddle’s other turns as George was also very effective, so much so that I had to take a moment to understand how Riddle had managed to transform from a frantic Basil-Fawlty-flavoured group leader to a cool, sinister ex-husband turning on the charm.
It’s a shame that the other performances don’t match Bangay and Riddle’s. Orsolya Nagy’s Gaia, a free-spirited flower child, felt like it was punching down at any kind of alternative to a sanitised, Liberal Democrat ideal of environmentalism. Nagy’s second character (Ben’s ex-wife), Petra, also suffers from a script which gives Nagy very little to work with; playing an ex-wife in 2024 with zero redeeming qualities and who even refers to herself as “the bitch ex-wife” felt close to misogynistic.
James Price’s Ben also falls flat. A lack of emotional and vocal range hollows out any sense of Ben’s passionate to save the planet or find love; this is a problem for a play which describes itself as a romantic comedy in the world of climate activism.
There are some nice production touches throughout. Millicent’s designer carrier bags and George’s department store carrier bags do a good job of fleshing out their characters. And Millicent’s wardrobe felt spot on for a fifty-something Barnes resident. Light and sound did well to set the scene and the mood throughout, but even the spookily accurate disco lighting in the final scene couldn’t save the story’s finale from fizzling out.
Just Stop Extinction Rebellion falls short of making any kind of new or interesting comments on climate change activism – any attempts to parody the well-known activist groups feel mean-spirited. And when James Price’s performance robs any kind of chemistry from Ben and Millicent’s relationship, Just Stop Extinction Rebellion feels like it’s playing safe. And “safe” is not what the world, or love, needs right now.