Scenes From The Climate Era Makes a Serious Trip to Asia

World leaders argue at a table about climate treaties.

- Shawn Hoo

SCENES FROM THE CLIMATE ERA The Studios, Esplanade Theatre Studio July 18

A couple mulls over the carbon footprint of having a child. A woman bears witness to the final years of a species.

How can theatre capture the frantic constellation of effects that climate change has wrought on every scale? Grand and unifying narratives falter, so Australian playwright David Finnigan has fractured the view into a brisk array of vignettes that resonate across the stories without being reduced to a single perspective.

Racing through them is a reminder that the climate crisis is a complex beast to grapple with practically. It demands multilateralism yet is led by governments, it requires scientists to speak across epistemological differences, it is at once intimately human and abstractly planetary.

Some beautiful tableaus play out on Scenes From The Climate Era's minimalist recycled set, which consists of a large round table surrounded by chairs and benches. PHOTO: CRISPIAN CHAN

So too does it pose a narrative challenge.