Greta Thunberg is today on trial in London for protesting outside the Oily Oscars in October 2023. The event was intended to award oil executives who have enriched the industry.
Fossil Free London and Greenpeace had arranged for people to stand peacefully outside the conference to let those attending know that the relentless expansion of the oil industry was destroying the planet. They were reflecting the frustration and suffering of many people across the world.
Flora Wilson Brown lets us glimpse something of that frustration and suffering in a play which switches between a fictional series of brief scenes in the lives of three couples.
In New York, Eunice (Sabrina Wu) angrily describes to her partner John, in 1854, that an English science publication refused to even read her study about rising temperatures because the research came from a woman. She tries to persuade John to send it in his name.
In London, 2027, the environmental lobbyists Claire (Martha Watson Allpress) and Daniel are becoming romantically drawn to each other. However, rising flood waters across England threaten the lives of Daniel's family.
By 2100, the environmental threat is growing as biological researchers Malcolm and his line manager, the heavily pregnant Ana (Pepter Lunkuse), become trapped by a terrifying storm in Norway.
Occasionally, the lights go out and communication with the outside world is cut off. Ana is faced with the prospect of giving birth in darkness with only Malcolm to help her.
The thematic continuity of the three stories is emphasised by the actor George Fletcher moving very effectively across the stage to play differently by accent and manner all three male characters. This very able cast never fails to hold our attention.
The show’s storyline reflects a general mood of intellectual pessimism among climate activists about the possibilities of convincing the powerful to do anything useful about climate change. But the title of the play and moments within each couple’s storyline give us a glimmer of hope that things can still be different.
A version of Eunice’s research will get printed in the US, though it will be framed as an example of what a female amateur is doing. Dan will make a very public protest and Ana will make a moving speech in which she will claim a better world is still possible for her child. She refuses to accept things must simply get worse. The Beautiful Future is Coming.
An organiser for Fossil Free London commenting on today’s trial of Greta Thurnberg is reported in The Guardian as saying, “fossil fuel corporations are most responsible for the climate crisis, and we will continue to hold them to account no matter what the state throws at us. We have to because nothing is worse than losing everything.”