The Trials

Set in the summer of 2022 at London's Donmar Warehouse, and a world premiere for Italy, The Trials takes us to a very near future, where the reckoning has begun for the wound humanity has inflicted on the environment. Outside, the air is almost unbreathable, life has become complicated and the future bleak. The very young generation is called upon to take an active part in the “trials” (referred to in the title) of people who have committed crimes against sustainability.
These juries of young people have the power of life and death, and the six girls and six boys presented in the text will have to try three adults. There will be heated discussions, because the personalities and ethical and political visions of these young people are profoundly different, and the responsibility entrusted to them is heavy. As in the best contemporary English dramaturgy, the personal element breaks through in the finale, sweeping away the didactic risk of a text of such close relevance.

In the play The Trials, author Dawn King imagines a future age, not too far from our own, a world irreparably damaged where a jury of young people gathers to try some people from their parents' generation. The charge brought against them is their failure to stop climate change. I chose this text precisely because of its uncomfortable and urgent vision, which presents a planet that can no longer sustain its population, where the air is so polluted that you cannot open a window, where flying and meat consumption are banned. The battle lines within this jury of twelve boys and girls are clear: some of the young people believe that all defendants are guilty because they did not act when they had the chance; others argue that without humanity and compassion, humanity itself has no future. The focus of the debate is on the climate crisis, the generational clash, but it also raises important questions on the issue of justice. What is the difference between justice and revenge? Can we rank guilt? Can remorse be a mitigating factor? In this theatrical tribunal, the questions are addressed in no uncertain terms, but the answers are not easy or immediate. The Trials è a text that functions as an allegory, but è also an exploration of the consequences that could happen if governments do not meaningfully address climate change in the immediate future. This text can be an excellent starting point for an even more intricate and difficult future question that we should all ask ourselves today: how is it possible to promote change within a capitalist system?

Veronica Cruciani