"The Trials" by Dawn King.

Nottingham Playhouse.

Here's a new play to me, having only been performed since 2022, so it's nice to go into this play not really knowing what it's about and with no pre conceptions of what happens. Every now and then a play comes around that really makes you sit up and take notice; this is such a play.

The story is set somewhere in near future. The climate emergency is gathering pace, and it's our generation that is being judged.

The twelve jurors are children. But are they delivering justice – or just taking revenge?

The three defendants are adults, an advertiser, a playwright and an employee for a company. After pleading their case, the jurors decide a guilty or innocent verdict, as in any standard court case, for the climate crisis that these teenagers have been left with by their elders. The guilty verdict though means certain death for the defendants, so they are literally fighting for their lives here. 

It's a little like an updated "12 Angry Men" for the climate era. With any stage play where there is a trial involved, we find out bits about the jurors, their backgrounds and any unseemly behaviour is inevitable to surface through the conversation. This jury though does not have the life experience of adult jurors, so we get to see their characters for what they are like as teenagers with their possibly rash decisions, but also with the emotional baggage that they carry for characters so young.

Tomaz is played by a fine young actor, Jamie Adlam. I've had the pleasure of seeing Jamie perform on several occasions, normally in musicals and playing comic characters. Tomaz is the provocateur of the jury who has no real interest in what is going on, although we do find out that Tomaz is rather fond of ice cream, which causes a debate of its' own. The character is loud and brash, providing much of the lighter moments in "The Trials", and I can see why Jamie was chosen for this particular character. While this role is very different to anything I've seen Jamie play in the past, it's also quite similar due to the comedy elements that Mr Adlam brings.

Eden is played by Noah Baguley, another young man who I've had the pleasure of reviewing in the past, most recently in "The Crucible" at the Nottingham Playhouse. Eden is a fascinating character; a voice of reason and level headedness, to start with. 

Kako is played by Nevaya Davidson. This character has a very privileged background, living in a five bedroomed house with four bathrooms and taking holidays on a regular basis to foreign and expensive climes. The sort of person who would be in line to be judged in the future.

Ren, who is a tree planter as well as being the head juror. Ren often struggles to keep semblance, especially with Tomaz, is played by Abi Dring who also delivers a wonderfully emotional performance. There's more than a strong echo of Greta Thunberg in this character, whether that be in King's character writing or from Abi. There's also a shocking revelation that involves Ren towards the end of the play.

Joseph Grainge plays Noah, who seems to be quite an angry person, and his character unfolds as we go through the story, and we discover where that anger stems from. There are a lot of profanities in Noah's speech, and it comes as quite a shock to feel the force of Noah's anger and his speech, especially when he drops the "C" bomb, as that's not a word you normally hear on stage, and especially from a young character. 

Joseph's acting completely blew me away because of his passion and anger, like a bull terrier with a wasp in his mouth. I recognised Joe from "Sister Act Jr", which was staged by Attic School, where he played Curtis, and commented at the time of his acting skills. Here he is a completely different animal showing an incredibly emotional and mature performance. And he has such a baby face as well!

Adam is played by Carlad Hargan-Hughes, who I remember from being in "Jerusalem" last year at the Nottingham Playhouse. Adam is asthmatic, which is made worse when Tomaz opens a window which lets the outdoor air into the room. Carlad plays this role with great credulity, constantly fighting for breath, which makes his role probably just a little harder to play as the role of an actor and his delivery depends on breath technique, so there's that added level of acting skill needed, which is delivered with great accuracy and realism. It's also a constant reminder of the air conditions outside the juror's room.

Marek is played by Thomas Pears, a new name to me, and another very impressive character actor.

Jessica Pywell plays Gabi, who has come to the conclusion that every adult is a dinosaur. Gabi is a very domineering and opinionated person, who you get the feeling from what she tells about her parents, may have revenge on her mind for those more privileged rather than unbiased justice. 

Xander, a budding poet and member of the Climate Defence Force, is played by Finley Ramowski. A studious character who likes to think things through with the mind of a poet and with reason. We also find out that his job in life is to collect dead bodies when disasters strike, which in a way explains why he is so unmoved by everything.

Chloe Revill plays Amelia, possibly the most worried of all the jurors about having to make a life or death decision of the three defendants. At one stage she objects to casting her vote due to the anxiety that she feels over the result of the overall decision. She knows that she should not be there due to her anxiety and guilt issues.

Zoe, who is one of the constantly undecided jurors, is played by Marley Simpson. 

Playing the final juror, Chris, who seems to have their mind on Noah for much of the proceedings instead of the matter in hand, is Bernice Thomas. Even though the slightly flirtatious Chris often disappears with Noah to the toilets on a regular basis, her mind about the hot headed Noah is changed by a decision that Noah makes near the end of the play.

This is a play to turn the spotlight on the younger cast and the three defendants take a back seat with just a limited time on stage.

Our first defendant is played by Mark Jardine, who'll be very familiar to a lot of people. Mark plays a business man and claims he behaved as responsibly as he could while still managing to run a profitable company and supporting his family. He recycled, bought an electric car but tried to make business trips by rail. He had three children, a comfortable life and bought a second car, their holidays though were implied to have not been within the UK.

The second defendant is played by Rebecca Crankshaw (Cranks). She a writer, voted Green, her plays increased awareness and made a contribution to culture, she didn’t have children.

Defendant number three is played by Gail Kemp. Number three worked for an oil company: she acknowledges her own guilt, her eyes now fully open to her past, she is proud of her environmentalist, tree-planting daughter. 

Dawn King's writing could have come across as a sermon for climate change, but it doesn't. It very cleverly provides you with food for thought about what we are doing to the planet, and what kind of world we are leaving for our children to manage. I personally recycle everything I can, walk more, go around switching lights off and never switch the heating on if it's not almost Icelandic temperatures (some may see that as part of my Scottish heritage!). There's a wonderful line in this play that states "if you're not angry, you're not paying attention", and that is so true. I've no intention of gluing myself to trees to shout about what we are doing to the world that we live in, but I do feel a responsibility to help slow down what is happening. 

King presents us with many unanswered questions, leaving us to deliberate on what the answers might be. It doesn't preach, it kind of provides us all with the chance to better and self educate ourselves. The ending of this play though is quite shocking and is quite Orwellian.

Nottingham Playhouse has been home to many powerful, thought provoking and hard hitting pieces of theatre, and this is another one.

Directed by Omar Khan and Hannah Stone, assisted by Scarlett Sanders.

The set design is by Maria Terry. The action takes place mainly in one room, the jurors' room, which reminded me of the wings area of the stage with chairs, stairs and a rack of dressing up clothes, which gives Tomaz free rein on his imaginative outlets.

Lighting Designer for this production is Laura Wolczyk. It's quite stark, especially when the three defendants take to the stage in front of the safety curtain background, accentuating the drama.

Sound design is by Amanda Priestley. 

The subject of the play is very adult and these young actors, every single one of them, deliver incredibly mature performances, showing the weight that the young carry on their shoulders and what outcomes from decisions made without reasonable thought can do.

If you don't leave the theatre deep in thought about the world today and how we are responsible for the situations our young will have to try and manage, then you've not understood anything that this amazing cast have said and done in the ninety-five minutes that they are stage. Prepared to be judged!

"The Trials" is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Friday 16 August when it then moves for a further performance to Mansfield Palace Theatre on Saturday.

Photography by Pamela Raith Photography.