Theatre can struggle to make climate change real for us. Too didactic and you risk both turning off your audience and making poor theatre. Bellringers wisely takes a different approach; the play is more concerned to explore the feelings of those facing the imminent end of their world. It could almost as easily be set in mediaeval times as in a fragmented society in the not-too-distant future. It’s a strongly written play, creating an uneasy strangeness to underpin the sometimes fearful, sometimes funny dialogue between two young men trying to come to terms with the increasing disturbance of the world around them. Rationality, ritual and superstition compete, but there is no resolution, as perhaps there cannot be.

Summerhall, until 26 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Alan Cranston]