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Scenes from the Climate Era


Image by Brett Boardman
Image by Brett Boardman

A mosaic of snapshots capturing how it feels to live through this historical planetary transformation.

At the turn of the 2020s, the climate movement abruptly shifted into a new phase.

Governments and businesses suddenly escalated their climate commitments, while fossil fuel lobbyists swapped out denial for greenwashing tactics.

New activist movements initiated a wave of direct action – property destruction, rent strikes and attacks on fossil fuel infrastructure.

In science journals and academic conferences, radical solutions were debated and tested which would have been unthinkable just a decade ago.

And everywhere, extreme weather and climate impacts hit harder and faster than expected. We’ve already hit major tipping points which have pushed us past a point of no return.

Through a series of 66 vignettes, Scenes from the Climate Era maps some of the strange and unfamiliar contours of this new world we find ourselves in.

Image by Brett Boardman

‘This is theatre doing what it was made to do. An invigoratingly honest portrayal of what it’s like to engage with climate change conversations (and be alive!) right this second.’
*****, Limelight Magazine

‘Raw, vulnerable and utterly engaging’
***** The AU Review

‘Finnigan’s play manages to reach into the minds of its audience and create an emotional, practical and shudderingly wide-ranging awareness’
**** Timeout

‘The world’s biggest story, told in 50 plays over 80 minutes.’
****, The Guardian

‘Finnigan dissects the hyperobject of climate change into discrete moments in the epic of everyday life, slicing it into its smallest parts and conducting aesthetic surgery until his audience can make sense of it.’
The Saturday Paper

Image by Brett Boardman

First produced in 2023 by the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney. The play was subsequently produced by Auckland Theatre Company and Silo Theatre in Auckland in July 2024.

(It’s the third episode in the You’re Safe series, and the first to be performed by performers other than myself!)

Image by Brett Boardman