We are somewhere in the future. Summers have become hotter, and life has become harder. That’s where this play starts.
Two schoolchildren, two boys (Dong-Hyun Lim and Pietro Cannizzaro) and two girls (Alia Al-Shabibi and director Mia Sumida), are excited about the sun and the summer solstice, but this year a catastrophe is going to happen.
We meet the quartet again and again through this thoughtful and empathetic play by Heejin Kim. The topic is climate change and its impact on the global environment.
With facts and figures sprinkled through this 70-minute show, we are left to think about our future impact as a hotter Earth means more water and changes of habitat.
Kim’s play asks questions about human behaviour, population growth, and slow change in the way the world evolves. As one part talks, another is sometimes frozen in pose.
The idea we are sleepwalking into a future that spells destruction is clear in this apocalyptic story. We are already noticing heatwaves, melting ice caps and breakout fires in the world.
Summers suggests that the environment may be precious and worth saving, but it may be too late. For these four people, their choices, their relationships, their moments in the sun, keep us watching.
A projected (growing) sun on a wall lit with blue light is the only concession to setting. The rest is imagination and interrogation.
3 stars.
Summers was viewed via a livestream from The Space.