Perth Festival Review: Youth Theatre Confronts Climate Reality
Perth Festival audiences are witnessing a powerful theatrical exploration of our environmental future through the WA Youth Theatre Company's production of 'Scenes From The Climate Era' at Fremantle's historic Victoria Hall. The production continues its run until February 22, presenting a compelling narrative performed entirely by young actors aged 12 to 24.
A Stark Reminder of Generational Responsibility
Watching eight confident young performers command the stage serves as a poignant reminder that the world's future belongs to the next generation. While older audience members might comfort themselves with thoughts that climate consequences won't affect them personally, the young cast and much of their audience face the stark reality that they will inherit and navigate this changing world.
The production cleverly structures itself as a series of vignettes that jump across the human timeline—from recent past to near future—presenting unnamed characters grappling with environmental transformation and impending disaster. This approach allows the work to cover substantial thematic ground without attempting to address the entirety of the climate crisis.
Complex Perspectives Without Easy Answers
What makes this production particularly effective is its refusal to preach or offer simplistic solutions. Instead, it presents the complex, often contradictory ways people respond to environmental challenges:
- A couple debates whether to bring a child into what they perceive as a compromised world
- A wildlife carer surprisingly advocates for coal power due to concerns about wind turbines harming birdlife
- Scientists discuss genetically modified mice designed to eliminate invasive populations through male-only reproduction
- A character challenges this as a form of slow genocide, prompting the response that the rodents are already destroying native species
Climate as Era Rather Than Crisis
The production builds toward parallel nightmare scenarios where characters confront devastation through bushfire, flood, and extreme heat. One character articulates the central thesis: this isn't merely a climate crisis but a climate era that began long before the actors were born and will continue long after they're gone, with no magical solution in sight.
Performed on a minimalist set, the young ensemble maintains a brisk pace that keeps audiences thoroughly engaged. The night of this review, the audience comprised primarily high school groups with some older attendees mixed in—a demographic combination that perfectly reflects the production's intergenerational concerns.
Hope Through Dialogue and Action
While the subject matter could easily become overwhelming, the production ultimately suggests that meaningful conversation and action provide pathways forward. The very existence of this work—created and performed by young people for mixed-generation audiences—offers its own form of hope. The production gives all attendees substantial material for discussion and potentially inspires concrete environmental actions.
The WA Youth Theatre Company has created a work that is both timely and timeless, addressing what may be the defining issue of our age through the voices of those who will live with its consequences longest. 'Scenes From The Climate Era' continues at Victoria Hall in Fremantle until February 22.
