EDINBURGH 2025: Review: THE BEAUTIFUL FUTURE IS COMING, Traverse Theatre

Flora Wilson Brown’s six-hander, The Beautiful Future Is Coming, examines climate change across 250 years of real and imagined history. In 1856, Eunice begins to question whether carbon dioxide might signal that something is going terribly wrong. In 2027 London, Clare falls for Dan as she faces impending heatwaves and floods. By 2100 in Svalbard, Ana endures an 86-day storm raging outside, questioning the doomed future of our planet.

The play has a fascinating premise, exploring how the consequences of climate change flow through past, present, and future generations. The combination of scientific inquiry and theatrical form is welcome, and the final plot twist is appropriately thought-provoking. Aldo Vázquez’s designs effectively reflect the shifting eras, with costumes and lighting distinctly marking each time period and standing out vividly against the minimal set.

There is some strong acting - particularly Jyuddah James playing Dan - but the characters overall feel surface-level, making it difficult to become gripped in their stories. The script itself feels more like a first draft than a final one - it's unnecessarily wordy, giving central ideas a less profound impact.

The undercurrent of the piece is an important one. It explores how yesterday’s discoveries, today’s inaction, and tomorrow’s storms are bound together. The baton of responsibility grows heavier with each passing generation, emphasising the increasing urgency of actions we can no longer ignore. I just wish the dialogue was a little more polished.

The Beautiful Future is Coming is at the Traverse Theatre until 24 August.

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