David Finnigan is a playwright and game designer from Ngunnawal country, Australia.
He writes plays and develops games at the intersection of science and art.
David’s work engages with Complexity and Earth System science to help answer two questions:
- How can we better make sense of and act within the huge systems we’re part of?
- What does it mean to be human in this moment of planetary transformation?
David is based in London, and works with governments, businesses, research institutions, NGOs and theatres across the UK, USA, Australia, Singapore and the Philippines. His work has been commissioned by organisations including the Public Theater NYC, the World Bank, the Barbican London, the United Nations and the Sydney Opera House. He is a TED speaker (2024), a MacDowell Fellow (2025), a Churchill Fellow (2012) and an Asialink Fellow (2015).
THEATRE
David’s plays have been presented at theatres and festivals around the world, including New York, London, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Manila, Auckland and Seoul.
His 2022 solo show Deep History was awarded a Scotsman Fringe First award and presented for seasons at the Barbican London and the Public Theater in New York.
His 2023 play Scenes from the Climate Era premiered at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney, followed by productions by the Gate Theatre London, Auckland Theatre Company, the Esplanade Singapore and Dulaang UP in the Philippines.
David was awarded Melbourne’s Green Room Award for Best Writing for Are You Ready To Take The Law Into Your Own Hands in 2021. His playscript Kill Climate Deniers was awarded the 2017 Griffin Award and nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award for Best New Play.
His play 44 Sex Acts In One Week was presented at the 2022 Sydney Festival and the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
David is under commission from the Public Theater NYC to develop The Seventh Assessment, a series of new plays exploring climate science, activism and denial.
You can read more about David’s theatre practice at his newsletter New Rules for Storytelling.
GAMES
David works with government, business and research institutions to model complex systems and future scenarios.
He turns these models into games, workshops, scenarios and interactive simulations to help policy-makers, NGOs and community stakeholders better understand the systems they’re part of and to navigate complex challenges.
Over 2021-25, David was commissioned by the World Bank to make a series of games illustrating disaster risk preparation for governments in Romania and Nepal.
He has worked with the United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Unit on games to train practitioners working with former combatants in post-conflict regions.
In 2021, David worked with Climate Safe Lending on a game illustrating sustainable finance for bank managers and financial regulators.
He worked with Chatham House London on games illustrating climate risk scenarios for the 2022 Second Century Conference and the 2023 London Design Biennale.
David co-designed the World Bank’s eLearning program on sustainable school infrastructure for the Global Program for Safer Schools.
David presented a game for more than 1,000 players illustrating disaster risk and polycrises for the 2020 Understanding Risk Forum.
As a member of Australian game design ensemble Boho, David has collaborated with groups such as the Centre for Marine Socioecology on a game illustrating tipping points in Tasmanian fishing communities, and the Lowitja Indigenous Health Research institution on a series of games to train health researchers working in Indigenous communities.
David has been in residence at organisations including Earth Observatory Singapore, the Stockholm Resilience Centre and University College London, developing games about natural hazards, climate risk, ecosystems management and systems modelling.
David teaches a regular training program on systems thinking and game design for the Singapore Civil Service College.
You can read more about David’s game design practice in his essay series New Rules for Modelling and New Rules for Game Design.
