As the future of a world transformed by a changing climate looms ever nearer, renowned Sydney theatre company Belvoir St Theatre brings to Geelong an innovative work grappling with a multitude of perspectives and ideas.
Premiered by Belvoir at its eponymous Surrey Hills theatre in 2023, David Finnigan’s Scenes from the Climate Era presents more than 30 one-scene stories over an unbroken 80-minute performance.
Within those scenes lie big, breathtaking ideas, such as the death of air travel or blanketing the atmosphere in sulphurous clouds to reduce the planet’s heat.
Those high-minded concepts are balanced by representations of the everyday conversations many of us have already experienced as we try to wrap our heads around what the future holds for us and the planet.
Actor Brittany Santariga is one of the cast of five currently bringing the production to regional Australia over May and June.
She said the thought-provoking play was “moving… it’s emotional because it’s real”.
“It’s a topic that everyone is grappling with, and people are at all different stages of coming to terms with it,” Santariga said.
“I think it can be really isolating and overwhelming to try to go through that anxiety on your own, so I think it’s important that we come together and talk about it.
“The way that David has presented it is not telling people what to do or how to act or respond. It’s just presenting a bunch of different ideas, different perspectives from each individual character, (through) which you can completely understand everyone’s perspective in it.
“I think that’s important, because it’s so easy to jump to conclusions or judgement around (climate change).”
Scenes from the Climate Era is at Geelong Arts Centre from May 29 to 31.
