Should you want to see a play about climate change the worst scenario would be to see the boring Greenland at the National Theatre. Richard Bean’s play is infinitely preferable. For a start it’s a play, the characters are more interesting, and the script is wittier.
A scientist (Juliet Stevenson) is so openly skeptical about global warming that she is receiving anonymous death threats from eco-activists. Her research shows that sea levels are not rising in the Maldives. The university at which she works is furious when she publishes her findings and then appears, without their approval, on Newsnight and is interviewed by Jeremy Paxman. The university relies for its funds on people who do believe in global warming and they cannot afford to offend them. The person who sacks her is a former lover (James Fleet).
So far so good; but the second act moves into a completely different gear. The way the scientist reacts when she learns her anorexic daughter wants to marry a totally unsuitable 19-year-old undergraduate (the amusing Johnny Flynn), who can’t even look after himself, is totally unbelievable.