? It is, of course, one of the most pressing issues in global geopolitics, but not one that lends itself with immediate obviousness to a theatrical setting. Who, for example, would be the leading characters? The last thing anyone wants is a primary school-style jamboree, with actors portraying melting ice caps and rising sea levels.
Pearlman is talked into his role by a shady cabal of petrostate interests, a mafia-like group of figures in long black coats. New to the climate issue, he takes us with him on his steep learning curve – and the first half ofand Justin Martin’s kinetic production is a dense whirl through significant events in the months and years leading up to Kyoto.
Kunken is utterly convincing as a ruthless operator who keeps a minatory eye on all key participants, increasingly frenzied and sleep deprived as he realises that things just might not go his way. “The euphoria of Kyoto was short-lived,” a sobering line in the programme reminds us, but that’s for another day, another play.
This is a rich and vital production and one that is likely to clock up many hundreds of travel miles in a continuing journey after its sojourn in Stratford.