The Trials is fuelled by more than one mission. The centre of Dawn King’s new play is a debate about the climate crisis: when a window is opened on to Georgia Lowe’s sweatily crammed set, gusts of sepia smoke belch in; the world outside is bilious. Yet it goes beyond this to look at intergenerational acrimony and at what counts as justice. As important, Natalie Abrahami’s production aims to open up the idea of who appears on stage and, so, of who owns the default gaze in a theatre. More than half the cast are teenagers making their professional debuts.
In an unspecified time – a future now – the youth are gathered to decide whether particular members of their parents’ generation are climate crisis criminals. The arraigned – played by Lucy Cohu, Nigel Lindsay and Sharon Small – have worked for an oil company, had several non-vegan children, flown around the world. Can guilt be graded? Is remorse a mitigating factor? When does justice become revenge, and suspicion of a “dinosaur” generation begin to interfere with making out the facts? The penalties, delivered to a fizz of red fluorescence, are severe.
The questions are bluntly tackled, but the play has intricacies. Stage trials are always as much investigations of jurors and judges as of the people in the dock. There are nicely nailed swift portraits here. The merciless, utterly letter-of-the-law girl; the adolescent who scrutinises their lime-green nails with more interest than the defendants; the diligent truth-seeker; the boy who really wants to argue about the best ice-cream flavour; and the child who wonders what it would be like to see snow.
On the whole, the less measured the character, the surer the actor’s landing. Joe Locke, of Netflix hit Heartstopper, has wonderful ease, Jowana El-Daouk unyielding scorn, Charlie Reid an outstanding sardonic loll. Something else takes place beyond individual characterisation. The group, introducing themselves with their preferred pronouns, spread themselves around the action with coltish grace, sprawling, meditating, deep breathing. Being young, bringing a new climate to the Donmar.
The Trials is at the Donmar Warehouse, London, until 27 August
