Anna Burnside reviews ‘a clear and provocative play’ that’s ‘energetically and thoughtfully staged’.
Intergenerational conflict is one of the hot button issues of the day. In Dawn King’s 2022 play, the focus switches from house prices and avocado toast onto the climate crisis.
In a near future with strong Margaret Atwood energy, the carbon-overconsumers of Gen X are on trial. Their jurors are the 12–18-year-olds whose futures they trashed.
We meet them on phase two of the process. The 1% have already paid the price for their private jets and been, we discover eventually, euthanised.
Now it’s the middle classes’ turn.
Director Joanna Bowman uses some clever casting to point up the generation gap - a chasm really - at the heart of these trials. First up is Brian Ferguson, a barely repentant advertising executive who pleads that, when he took his three children skiing, they went by train.
After his testimony, the jury tumbles onto the stage. Their chaotic teenage energy is the perfect contrast to Ferguson’s tight-faced doom. Of course they are a set of archetypes - one has crippling anxiety, there’s an emo and a sweet lesbian who writes poetry - but there’s nuance in there as well.
As the trials progress - these kids have 15 minutes to decide whether a member of their parents’ generation lives or dies - we see some of their backstories and see how their sometimes horrendous formative experiences shape their decisions.
The ending feels a little overcooked, but this is a clear and provocative play about the climate emergency, energetically and thoughtfully staged by the young people who will have to deal with this mess.
I’m just glad I didn’t go with my children. No one wants to drive home from the theatre discussing whether or not to euthanise mother.
The Trials performs at Tron Theatre until March 14, 2026. For further details, go to the company’s website.
Photo by Mihaela Bodlovic.
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