Simon Ward reviews Just Stop Extinction Rebellion at the White Bear Theatre

Theatre-going has changed significantly since I first started attending plays on a regular basis many years ago. One aspect, in particular, is the inexorable rise of the sixty-to-ninety minute play with no interval. They were notably rare when they first began to appear, and at least some audience members were left feeling short-changed. But people were won over in the end by the sheer convenience of being able to fit a theatre trip easily around restaurant bookings and public transport. And they have been a godsend in the world of fringe theatre, where audiences may be more reluctant to take a punt on a longform work but will not begrudge an hour to maybe unearth a gem.

All the more unusual, then, to come across a work like Just Stop Extinction Rebellion which ignores any of those trends and runs as a full blown play with an interval in a small pub theatre. In fact, the play as a whole, subject matter notwithstanding, has a somewhat old-fashioned feel. Writer Brad Sutherland acknowledges that he might have used any number of groups as the setting for his story, and watching it reminded me of traditional sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s where an unlikely assemblage of characters get together for an evening class. Also like those sitcoms, the laughs are rather gentle, not as frequent as you might hope, and the quality of the acting is variable.

This is not to say that the evening is unenjoyable. On the contrary, there are some very funny moments, and the ending was rather touching. However, there were points at which I felt the confines of the small space and limited budget had a detrimental effect. For example, the play seems to take place over a period of several weeks, but that wasn’t really obvious as the set never changed and there was not enough marking of time passing. The romance at the heart of the play between Millicent (Louise Bangay) and Ben (James Price) also suffers from this – we see their very first meeting, but we don’t really get a sense of their relationship deepening over time. There is no real chemistry between the two leads, although Louise Bangay strikes a nicely observed balance between Millicent’s conflicting desires for adventure and security.

The ‘Planet Crisis’ group is, of course, an excuse for each of the protagonists to work on the hangups and problems they bring with them – most notably Stephen Riddle’s George whose control freakery as chairman masks his underlying pain. But there is also time and room to discuss how best to highlight the climate crisis, and why no-one really takes it seriously enough. Among the most touching moments of the evening are in the verbatim recordings of real climate activists played between acts.

Just Stop Extinction Rebellion runs at the White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Rd,
London SE11 4DJ until 10th February