★★★

“well worth seeing for its well executed design and engaging performances”

In the latest addition to the dystopian, Big Brother-esque theatre scene, Arlington – a new production from Glasgow-based dance-theatre company, Shotput – is a visual spectacle of a show with incredible performances and a stellar design team. Written by Enda Walsh, the show sets up an intriguing premise which it disappointingly fails to follow through on.

Lights up on a stark raised stage, outfitted only with a waiting room bench, a lone ticket dispensing machine and a pile of clothes. Around the perimeter of the stage we see multiple monitors and pieces of run down looking tech – someone is definitely watching. Above the stage a large sign with the number ‘3097’ is hanging ominously. The story begins by following Isla (Aisha Goodman) as she waits endlessly for her number to be called so she may escape her room in this mystery tower. We are given very little in the way of information as to how she came to be here and what is going on with the rest of the world outside these towers. A new, unnamed man (Alex Austin) enters Isla’s sphere to monitor her from the screens outside. Eventually, the scene shifts away from Isla and her comical body-pillow dance duet and we meet another unnamed character. Played by Jack Anderson, we are entranced by a twenty minute solo dance piece, presumably depicting this character’s journey inside their own room. Finally, our third and final captive brings the story full circle as we discover he is the guard from Isla’s tale, now trapped himself.

The story that we attempt to follow throughout this show is convoluted and unsatisfying in the few answers we are given to the many questions that arise. While this is likely a conscious choice in the storytelling, it weakens the show considerably as the scrappy structure offers little in the way of closure. That said, what this show lacks in plot it makes up for in volumes with its direction, Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello, and design elements. The set design, Anna Yates, offers a beautiful contrast between the harsh clinical environment of the room and the soft, deeply damaged nature of the control centre outside in the real world. The lighting design, Emma Jones, and sound, Garry Boyle, work together in perfect harmony to create a chilling all-encompassing atmosphere that creates a sense of perfect unease, never allowing us to relax or know what is coming next. Rob Willoughby’s video design transports us to a disturbing reality of constant observation as we are invited at all times to see at least four versions of the live actor via the aforementioned monitors, while the mysterious man behind the control desk remains with his back turned and swathed in shadow.

The performances across the board are superb. Each performer incorporates elements of dance into their character, with Jack Anderson providing a solo routine so vivid it’s hard to look away. Aisha Goodman brings humour and grit to her performance as Isla, allowing us to perfectly appreciate the frustrations and quirks of living in this strange world. Alex Austin skillfully allows us to connect with his character’s vulnerabilities and awkwardness even while sitting in the dark and turned away from view.

Overall this is a production well worth seeing for its well executed design and engaging performances. If you’re looking for a satisfying story that will leave you either sated with knowledge or content with the well managed unknown: look somewhere else.

SCENES FROM THE CLIMATE ERA

The Playground Theatre

★★★½

“a triumph for the cast and creative team”

David Finnigan’s Scenes from the Climate Era is a disturbing play. It’s meant to be. Even more disturbing is that two years on from its first performance in Sydney, it punches as hard as ever. Is there hope for redemption from the human follies that have brought us into this era? That is the core question of this piece and, playing after the UK’s hottest summer on record, we must ask ourselves whether hope itself is the folly.

Gate Theatre is presenting the European premiere of ‘Scenes’ at The Playground Theatre and the studio style space is exploited perfectly by Gate’s Artistic Lead Atri Banerjee. As the action opens, it feels as if we are looking at a rehearsal – a young couple discussing whether it is responsible to bring a child into this world (a conversation which quickly breaks down into a disagreement about whether paper or plastic is doing more damage). This feeling is intensified as a third actor breaks out from the audience (we are seated ‘in the round’) with startling, thunderous applause to bring the key process into focus.

This process is a disruption of the original ‘SARA’ curve of change management – Shock, Anger, Rejection, Acceptance. Here we are presented instead with three stages: one – denial; two – optimism and solutions; three – grief, anger and despair. In a very short space of time, 80 minutes, over multiple brief scenes (the original had 66 – I lost count in this production that has brought the statistics of the climate crisis bang up to date), we are treated to real and imagined snapshots: dinner party debates; COP speeches; protests; oil company whistle-blowing; scientific predictions; even a dance party that interleaves the conversations.

Framed in sound baths, dramatic changes in lighting, and smoke creeping through the studio, we watch the action range chaotically over time and place. There is a media interview in 1981 about the greenhouse effect; a laboratory in the future where the last of a particular species of frog is being kept alive. The Climate Era as a definition is proposed – a theory that we are now living through a defined era, like the Byzantine one, which will come to an end. How, when and what that might look like are debated. Toward the chilling conclusion, the couple we met at the opening have had their family, and we are still left asking ‘Was that responsible?’

The extraordinary blend of scenarios, dialogue, and special effects is a triumph for the cast and creative team. Miles Barrow, Harriet Gordon-Anderson (an original cast member), Ziggy Heath and Peyvand Sadeghian are the high energy and accomplished physical actors taking us through this small-scale epic, with much owed to the overall design (Anna Yates) and the lighting and sound team.

This is the stuff of theatre. To put the spotlight on a current and sobering topic, present it as entertainment and then drive home the unavoidable importance of the content. If there were a criticism, it is that the switch between scenes is so intense and the range so diverse, it leaves one breathless and with no time to reflect. The single bit of audience involvement business, near the beginning, seems redundant. There is no story arc (that is not the point, we are still in the middle of the era) and the pace is relentless with very few quieter moments. I am sure that this is actually the intention, but the complexity can be overwhelming.

When we get to the last two scenes, Finnigan offers us four endings, each set in different parts of the world, and each offering its own existential conundrum. Then he answers the original question ‘how will we know when the Climate Era has ended?’ with a twist. Whether it is hopeful or not, is down to the way each of us interacts with the prognosis.

Tag Archives: Anna Yates

ARLINGTON

★★★

Tron Theatre

ARLINGTON

Tron Theatre

★★★

“well worth seeing for its well executed design and engaging performances”

ARLINGTON

Tron Theatre then Scottish Tour continues

Reviewed on 23rd October 2025

by Kathryn McQueen

Photography by Brian Hartley

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BLACK HOLE SIGN | ★★★★ | September 2025

ARLINGTON

ARLINGTON

ARLINGTON

SCENES FROM THE CLIMATE ERA

★★★½

The Playground Theatre

SCENES FROM THE CLIMATE ERA

The Playground Theatre

★★★½

“a triumph for the cast and creative team”