Kyoto

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Kyoto by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, who also co-wrote The Jungle about life in the migrant camp in Calais, France, has its heart in the right place. Unfortunately, this recreation of the 11 conferences on climate change that took place between May 1990 and December 1997 ending in the Kyoto Protocols is so chock full of data and numbers that it makes your head spin. As you may recall the United States, the world’s second biggest offender on greenhouse gases, refused to ratify, so that to some extent all the work done came to naught. Co-directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin who also staged the earlier Royal Shakespeare Company production in London the play moves at a rapid speed so you do not have time to get bored by all the facts and figures tossed about.

The play is narrated by anti-hero Don Pearlman (played by Stephen Kunken who created the role in London), an American lawyer who as CEO for the The Climate Council, a NGO funded by the Seven Sisters oil cartel, does everything in his power to keep a climate protocol from being ratified by conferences originally started by the U.N. To the end of his life, he went on claiming that the “Science was not clear.” He is one of the few total anti-heroes to narrate a play, coming into conflict with scientists and international government representatives to the conferences.

Among the other characters who we get to know well are his wife Shirley (Natalie Gold) who goes with him to each of the cities of the conferences, eventually coming to disagree with his ideas, and Raúl Estrada-Oyuela (Jorge Bosch, also from the London production) Argentinian Ambassador to China and later Chairman of the COPI – 3 (Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Control) held in Kyoto. Miriam Buether’s clever round conference table set with a green rug in the center for interstitial scenes works for all 11 conferences that the play recreates. Some audience members are allowed to sit at the conference table to fill it out to full capacity, delegations only representing Kiribati, Saudi Arabia, China, USA, Germany, Tanzania, UK and Japan.

Most of the delegates to the conferences remain anonymous but several are household names; Angela Merkel (Erin Darke), later Chancellor of Germany, represents her country, and John Prescott (Ferdy Roberts, the third actor from the London production), Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom appears at the Kyoto conference. Vice President Al Gore (Daniel Jenkins) put in an appearance as do scientists Fred Singer, Bert Bolin and Ben Santer. Starting with the Scientists meeting in Berkshire, England, the play covers the conferences at Sundsvaal, Sweden; Geneva, Switzerland; Chantilly, Virginia; Geneva, again; Nairobi, Kenya; Geneva for the third time; New York City; Rio de Janeiro; Berlin in Act I and then devotes Act II to the seven days plus in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. The play’s 23 scenes take two hours and 45 minutes which is a big commitment for such a detailed topic. Less might have been more.

Representing the oil interests, the reprehensible Don sits behind the Saudi Arabian delegation giving them advice as lawyer to the Climate Council continually causing obstruction for delivering a protocol on global climate control. Among the more memorable delegates are Kate Burton as the unnamed head of the US delegation whose job is to keep the conference from obstructing the American lifestyle as to carbon emissions for energy and fuel, and Roslyn Ruff as the spokesperson for the Tanzanian delegation and AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States). Another memorable appearance is by Fred Singe (Peter Bradbury), an atmospheric physicist and well-known climate change denier. The most shocking testimony of all is from the Kiribatian delegate (Taiana Tully) that if something is not done soon her island nation will be underwater before long.

Kunken manages to make Don Pearlman compelling even when he is derailing the conferences and ignoring the concerns of his wife. (After backing him for years, she eventually realizes that he is on the wrong side of history.) He is abrasive, opinionated, and insufferable but you can’t take your eyes off him for a minute. Bosch is suave and elegant as Estrata-Oyuela who eventually has the last laugh, putting over the Kyoto Protocol by sheer force of will which eventually comes down to numbers on emission trading and voluntary participation of nations. Burton is hilarious as the aggressive, belligerent and obnoxious head of the USA delegation, finally changing her tune when public opinion turns and it becomes obvious that most nations want something concrete resolved. Ruff as Prof. Mwandosya of Tanzania is impressive as a voice of reason.

Unlike J.T. Rogers’ Tony Award-winning Oslo which handled similar material about the secret Oslo Peace Accord conference, Kyoto by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson makes little concession to its audience giving almost too much information and depicting too many characters, while being patently undramatic much of the time. However, the topic is so explosive that it carries its audience through its 11 conferences. (One hardly notices Natalie Pryce’s costumes so closely does one have to listen to follow the flow of the arguments.) One does come away with the knowledge these sorts of conferences are almost futile with each nation having its own agenda and limits to how far it will go even at the expense of other nations. It is almost remarkable that the Kyoto conference reached any consensus at all. The question now is how much of that was actually enforced by the signatories to the protocol.

Kyoto (through November 30, 2025)

The Royal Shakespeare Company & Good Chance

Lincoln Center Theater

Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 W. 65^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 212-239-6277 or visit http://www.lct.org/shows/kyoto/

Running time: two hours and 45 minutes including one intermission