It’s a good Fringe year for The Traverse. Many of its shows are landing with audiences and already garnering great critical acclaim.

This production, on the main stage, is maybe not as celebrated as others, yet it packs an emotional punch with its heartfelt exploration of the climate crisis before, during, and maybe after, it has hit us.

Flora Wilson Brown’s production is directed by Bristol Old Vic Artistic Director Nancy Medina and it’s a real pleasure to see an ensemble cast (OK, only six) deliver powerful drama in a theatrical era that is starved of bodies on stage. This makes up for it.

Women in science are given a strong playbook here. Starting with a ‘hobbyist’ female scientist in Victorian era New York, Eunice (and her doting husband John), is conducting experiments that seem to suggest that sunlight and Carbonic Acid (the ingredients of acid rain) can have an effect that might be prejudicial to the global climate, the trouble is, The Royal Society is entirely misogynistic and won’t even entertain scientific innovation from a woman.

In London (today) Daniel and Claire are preparing a pitch to Greenpeace from an unstated POV.  They like one another, maybe more than like.

And in 2106 a heavily pregnant scientist is caught in a seed vault in storm-ravaged Svalbard with her fellow, doting, male scientist.

Rain thunders throughout this thought-provoking production. As does pregnancy and the choices this provokes for our cast. Both genders. We find our current day couple holidaying in Venice (appropriate) as the floods start to rage everywhere. Will the rain never end?

And gradually Victorian dreams and contemporary acts of rebellion, really serious rebellion, converge tragically outside of London’s parliament buildings.

Flora Wilson Brown makes us think hard about what lies ahead.  The script crackles, the performances are universally strong, the technical delivery is excellent.  And, you know, it’s funny in the midst of all this too.

This production rides two horses simultaneously, the absolute cock-up we are making of climate management, and the role of women in this challenge and whether their voice is being heard sufficiently. They bear our next generation.

But do they really want to?

What lies in store for our children?

Is a beautiful future really coming?

‘The Beautiful Future is Coming‘ is at Traverse Theatre – Traverse 1 until Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 17:30