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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/25/the-kyoto-climate-treaty-is-hailed-on-stage-but-reality-tells-a-different-story>
"As material for a West End show, the backroom machinations of an international
climate conference sound unpromising.
Pedantry, boredom and delegates fighting over the wording of treaty clauses do
not sound like the stuff of high drama. Nevertheless,
Kyoto, a Royal
Shakespeare Company production by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson now playing at
Soho Place in London, has been widely praised by critics and rapturously
received at its opening this month.
The play, which focuses on the talks that led to the agreeing of the Kyoto
climate treaty of 1997, certainly excites. In Don Pearlman, the oil industry
lobbyist – superbly played by Stephen Kunken – we are presented with a cunning,
unprincipled manipulator who could rival Richard III for villainy. At the same
time, the show’s energy, humour and pace never flags throughout its
two-and-a-half-hour run.
It makes for a great night at the theatre, but a note of caution is needed. The
play presents the Kyoto treaty as a world-saving triumph that set binding
targets for greenhouse gas emissions, uniting humanity against the scourge of
the climate crisis: a beacon of hope, it is claimed. This, sadly, is not the
case."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
