Richard is dead. His lifelong friend wasn’t invited to his funeral. Little Animals is his chance to say goodbye. Chairs are set out in a circle. It’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon and light streams through the skylights in the Lyceum’s Studio. A deliberately lo-fi show, there is no set, no props. Writer and actor Paul Ready’s in a suit but this is the only concession to the occasion.

Ready’s a disarming performer. Addressing the audience directly, we’re sucked in to the storytelling from the get go. Retracing their relationship from their first meeting, aged seven, on stage in a nativity, through their continuing relationship as their life paths diverge, Ready swoops effortlessly from pride in his friend, outrage on his behalf, grief at his loss, and eventually, to exasperation with his life choices.

Ready’s character is an artful portrayal of someone just like us: a job, a family, things to do, places to be. He works hard for his salary on the fifteenth floor of his high-flying office in London. It’s only right that he shops when he needs to, eats meat when he wants to, jumps into his car to keep up with his schedule, flies two or three times a year when he needs to relax. He needs his family time in the sun to keep everything on track, right?

Richard is unlike most of us. His commitment to climate action doesn’t start and stop with his allotment. He not only reads the IPCC reports but he acts on them, refusing to sidestep this most inconvenient truth. The power of the piece lies in the fact that Richard’s questions are our questions – or should be. How can we continue to keep driving our diesel cars and eating meat and shopping and flying when the house that we live in is literally burning?

For all the call to arms, for all the lack of frivol and fripperies, thanks to Caroline Steinbeis‘s quietly seductive  direction, you largely won’t feel like you’re being beaten round the head with moral judgment. As Ready says, all we can decide is what happens next.

Little Animals is at Studio Theatre at Traverse @ The Lyceum Studio until Sun 30 Aug 2026