Concluding a thought provoking season of pies and pints at the Traverse is a revival of Zinnie Harris’ The Garden which confronts our inertia about climate change: “As long as someone, somewhere, is doing something about it then it’s OK” mutters beleaguered environmental scientist Mac (Sean Scanlan). He is that someone, and he’s given up. But our response to climate change reveals ugly things about the Western psyche. In order to deal with the guilt of knowing that to maintain our standard of living others must go without, we have developed a mental barrier to indirect suffering, resulting in inaction.
Rather than accusing us of complacency, Harris simply holds up the mirror.
Set in a dilapidated American apartment block, Jane (Anne Lacey) and husband Mac are trapped in a world with depleting water and electricity resources and growing heat. But against all odds, the tiny leaf of an apple tree appears beneath the lino. Immediately, and with later regret, the little plant is destroyed and the couple soon follow suit.
In some places resembling a fractured Beckettian loop, and in others a little underdeveloped, Harris’ grim portrayal of humankind’s inability to understand the delicate balance of the world is necessarily stark. But neither Lacey nor Scanlan become submerged by sadness, instead their tender portrayal of two withering people is utterly convincing. What’s most compelling about this piece though, is that the characters’ are unaware of the parallels between their actions and the destruction of Eden. By not acknowledging history, whether symbolic or actual, the character’s make the same mistakes and we witness the destruction of the planet in microcosm. Harris shows us how the short-sightedness of Mac and Jane’s actions in response to global catastrophe has depressing consequences. But rather than accusing us of complacency, Harris simply holds up the mirror.