Kyoto

It's the years leading up to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, where a UN landmark climate conference made a historic agreement to join together and limit the effects of climate change.

Currently playing at Soho Place, Kyoto by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson grapples with the defining moment in climate and environmental legislation. Kyoto causes us to reflect on how far from—or how frighteningly close to, the legacy of the protocol the world stands.

The stage is set around the conference table, set design by Miriam Buether. The countries sit along the outside, ruffling papers, discussing in mumbles and whispers. There is a bustle around the stage as the actors rush around the fringes of the table. American oil lobbyist Don Pearlman (Stephen Kunken) stands in the centre of the raised table. He manipulates the situations like a puppeteer from his panopticon. Murphy and Roberston's choice to present the play through his perspective causes tension in the audience. We are often rooting for Don's agenda and have to remind ourselves that this individual does not have the good of the planet in his interests. As his wife Shirley (Jenna Augen) keeps asking him, 'Are they on the right side?' It is through Shirley that we question his actions. While Don travels around the world, seeing nothing but board rooms, Shirley experiences life in these countries. Shirley's morals are torn between her loyalty towards her marriage and her instincts for justice.

It is difficult to highlight any specific performance as superior because this production has such a strong cast. From Kiribati / AOSIS (Andrea Gatchalian) first impassioned speech on how large, powerful countries take advantage of small island nations is heart-wrenching, her quivering performance buckling under the passion and pressure to Saudia Arabia's (Raad Rawi) skilful timing to derail the talks to protect its interests. The USA (Nancy Crane) and China (Kwong Loke) battle against each other rather than the rest of the members. The humanity and compromise that Germany (Kristin Atherton), Jorge Bosch (Raúl Estrada-Oyuela), UK (Ferdy Roberts) portray to the tradition and dignity shown by Japan (Toga Igawa) and Tanzania (Aïcha Kossoka). Each country is given space to forcefully convey its agenda.

Directors Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin balance the pacing perfectly. The performance teeters masterfully between the boredom and tedium of discussions that last hours and almost full days to the frantic and hectic decision-making where one wrong word can detail the progress in an instant. The discussions can dissolve in an instance on one ill-placed word. Or they circle around the excruciation of legislative terminology that tilts into comedy and ridicule.

The first UN Conference on Environmental and Development met in 1992, and the Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon to bind countries to emissions targets in 1997. Since then, the Paris Agreement has essentially superseded the Kyoto Protocol. This play comes at the perfect time of reflection as many developed countries are beginning to shake off these agreements.

Notable Names:

Kristin Atherton (Germany)

Jenna Augen  (Shirley)

Raúl Estrada-Oyuela (Jorge Bosch)

Nancy Crane (USA)

Andrea Gatchalian (Kiribati / AOSIS)

Toga Igawa (Japan / Ohki)

Aïcha Kossoka (Tanzania)

Stephen Kunken (Don Pearlman)

Kwong Loke (China)

Raad Rawi (Saudi Arabia)

Dale Rapley (Bolin / Santer / Gore)

Ferdy Roberts (UK / Houghton)

Duncan Wisbey (Fred Singer)

Kyoto Venue:

Soho Place

4 Soho Place,

Charing Cross Road,

London,

W1D 3BG

Dates:

from 11th January – 3rd May 2025

Kyoto Running Time:

2 hour and 35 minutes, including a 20 min interval.