Writers: Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson
Directors: Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin
Looking back nostalgically, the 1990s seem like an era of tranquillity. The Cold War and the major conflicts of the 20th Century had by then passed into history, while the horrors, real and potential, that were to engulf the first quarter of the 21st Century were still invisible on the horizon, with one exception: that of global warming. Kyoto, a new play by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, begins by reminding us that this was the context for the ground-breaking climate change conference that took place in Japan’s second city in December 1997.
This Royal Shakespeare Company production. directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, is transferring from Stratford-upon-Avon to @sohoplace, the West End’s newish in-the-round theatre, which set designer Miriam Buether turns into a realistic representation of a conference venue. Delegate badges are handed to the audience, and the debating begins. The play’s first half tells the back story, with conferences in Geneva and Rio de Janeiro setting out dividing lines between nations, ranging from Kiribati to China. Perhaps the play gets slightly too bogged down in detail during this half, but it takes flight once the shores of Japan have been reached.
Acting as narrators, United Nations observer Don Pearlman (Stephen Kunken) and his wife Shirley (Jenna Augen) describe events with an appropriate air of cynicism which brings out the many ironies in the narrative. Pearlman is an American Republican who clashes inevitably with the USA delegate (Nancy Crane), representing the Clinton/Gore administration.
The Rio conference is presided over by the German Environment Minister, a strict Angela Merkel (Kristin Atherton) suggesting that a bright future could be lying in wait for her. Showing a flair for understatement, she begins a discussion with the United Kingdom delegate: “I know that our countries have not always seen eye to eye, but…”, The UK delegate at Kyoto is a bellicose John Prescott (Ferdy Roberts), lecturing other delegates on more unsubtle negotiating tactics. Could it be that the newly-installed Blair Government is not taking the threat of global warming too seriously?
Seemingly aware that most of the arguments and counterarguments put forward by countries are still being heard regularly on news bulletins today, the writers know that the plain facts about climate change will not be enough to hold the interest of audiences and, accordingly, they spice up their script with generous measures of humour. Marshalling a company of 20, the directors achieve a degree of vitality that translates into urgency. At times the coordination of the ensemble is breathtaking, generating an ordered chaos that we imagine to be an accurate depiction of real events.
Unfortunately, all the events depicted in the play remain blazingly topical more than 27 years later. Kyoto represented a breakthrough, but it found no permanent solutions to the dilemmas that still haunt us. The play offers no new revelations, but it gives fresh insights into the knots that still have to be untangled.
Runs until 3 May 2025