JUST STOP EXTINCTION REBELLION at the White Bear Theatre
★★★
“the potential for an exciting clash of cultures in this piece never transpires”
Just Stop Extinction Rebellion is a hopeful play about finding romance, and finding yourself, in the autumn of life whilst the world is burning. An overtly political play this is not – admitted by the playwright, Brad Sutherland, in a note on the programme. The context in which the central pair meet, at an upper-middle class, West London climate activist group, is little more than incidental and could as easily have been a church choir. However, the meet cute does reflect the pair’s need to find meaning beyond their own little lives – seeking hope that more people can be saved from the actions they take.
The two leads are the effervescent Millicent Forbes-Frobischer of Barnes, patron of the Globe and regular at Waitrose, played with aplomb by Louise Bangay, and plain old Ben, soppy and staid James Price. Millicent is seven months separated from her husband under circumstances left unresolved. Ben is equally frustrated in his marriage, having been pushed out by his wife, Petra (Orsolya Nagy) who calls herself an ‘evil bitch’. Over the course of many months, the two grow closer as they share in their marriage woes and plot with fellow activists Gaia (also Nagy), George (Stephen Riddle) and Mrs Warboys (Hilary Field). Whilst there is sweetness to the pairs developing relationship after so many years out of the dating game, Price’s Ben is wet and left wanting beside Bangay as the dazzling Millicent. And whereas Millicent benefits from a clearly defined character arc, Ben is walked all over by his cruel wife and ends pretty much back where he started.
More interesting is the relationship between Millicent and George as their ideas for addressing the climate emergency rub up against each other. George raises motions to use guerrilla tactics of egg bombing cars and lying down in the road to halt traffic. Millicent wants to affect change through policy, and proposes a motion as such at her first meeting. His patronising quotation of Mark Twain ‘if I don’t read newspapers I’m I’ll informed, if I read them I’m uninformed’ receives a quipped at equally belittling reply from Millicent and we realise George may have met his match.
“Kenneth Michaels makes some odd directorial choices”
Whilst the plays author, Brad Sutherland, may apologise for trying to write a balanced play airing both sides, in my view, that’s a strength. Both approaches are necessary – activism for raising consciousness and demanding change and policymaking for driving the change. The characters’ perspectives are perhaps influenced by their power – Millicent as an upper middle class woman with connections in the media and government can demand and achieve attention for her policy ideas. George, whose daughter has recently died, just wants immediate action.
Kenneth Michaels makes some odd directorial choices, namely the cheesy dancing sequences to ‘Walking on Sunshine’ the extended chanting and breathwork sequences by the spiritual Gaia. Nagy’s caricatured performance in a rainbow streaked wig and billowing costumes (Samantha Parry) makes a mockery of activism without any redeeming features.
Despite the strong performance of Louise Bangay and a chameleonic turn from Stephen Riddle as Millicent’s dapper husband Henry, the potential for an exciting clash of cultures in this piece never transpires and instead the play’s emotional heart is left wanting by weak characters and parodied performances.
JUST STOP EXTINCTION REBELLION at the White Bear Theatre
Reviewed on 1st February 2024
by Amber Woodward
Photography by Paddy Gormley
