‘Our future children are judge, jury and executioner in this meaty climate drama’
If you’ll indulge me in a little thought experiment: in 50 years’ time, as our climate decays around us, you are presented with your own personal climate report – every dropped Coke can, every light left on, every unnecessary drive to the shops – would you be proud of what you saw?
This is the heart of The Trials, Dawn King’s urgent new play, running at the Donmar Warehouse after its 2021 premiere in Dusseldorf. The best way I can describe it is if Gen-Z did 12 Angry Men. In a future where climate change has rendered much of the world uninhabitable, children adjudicate on their parents and debate whether the self-interest of older generations led them to doom future ones: ‘Three kids. Three! Selfish fuck.’
King’s script is bursting at the seams with searing questions on our role in the climate crisis: is it possible to be environmentally sustainable in a capitalist society? How can you be climate-conscious whilst also living a fun, fulfilling life? Can climate justice be rehabilitative? Or must we punish those who knowingly worsened our environment? What King does best is leave these questions unanswered and bring the audience into the debate, rather than preach one way or another – it results in some of the most prescient and thought-provoking writing of recent memory.
Three adult defendants make their case for acquittal throughout the piece, played by British theatre stalwarts Nigel Lindsay, Lucy Cohu and Sharon Small. All three give magnificent performances. We chuckle at their feeble attempts to claim allyship (‘we took the train to go skiing…I signed so many environmental petitions!’) but are struck silent by relatable pleas for understanding – ‘we still had to live’. These are nuanced and recognisable portraits of our future selves.
The teenage jury performances are generally solid across the board. Highlights come from Thunberg-esque jury leader Ren (Honor Kneafsey) and reserved raver/poet Xander (William Gao, of Heartstopper fame), who deftly handle their more emotional moments. It is wonderful to see so many young actors making their stage debuts together, but the lack of experience does have an effect on the final product. The actors do brilliantly to keep pace with King’s snappy script, but the lack of vocal and movement training means that there are many occasions where character intentions are either not transmitted clearly enough or forced out inauthentically. A looser script, with some space allowing for natural ad-libs, would have been more effective so that these actors could really get under their character’s skin and shake some nerves off the (admittedly intimidating) Donmar stage. This critique may seem harsh, but the bar for young actors has been set high by productions like the Almeida’s barnstorming Spring Awakening earlier this year.
A nod must go to Georgia Lowe’s set design, a mixture of binary reds and blues that form something like an apocalyptic school hall, one that is effectively filled by Natalie Abrahami’s busy yet subtle direction. The 1hr30 runtime does sag a little towards the end but Kneafsey and Small carry us through an emotionally powerful (if slightly predictable) climax.
While this is certainly a flawed production, the core of this play is one of the most captivating premises that I have seen on the London stage. It would be impossible to walk out of the theatre without questions about your own sustainability racing through your head. You might even get a Lime bike home instead of the Tube. I didn’t. I guess I’ll see you at the courthouse.