Camden Fringe 2025
ANTHROPOCENE
Ben Wendel
Genre: Drama, Movement, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Barons Court Theatre
Festival: Camden Fringe
Low Down
Anthropocene is a new play combining environmental science and an exploration of grief. Smart direction and solid performances elevate a script in need of further evolution. Anthropocene speaks to our climate-conscious era and our fears of coming of age in a world ready to burn around us.
Review
Anthropocene refers to the time humans have existed on Earth, our effects on the environment, and our seemingly inevitable destruction of the planet we call home. As climate change veers closer to past the point of no return, our species is facing mass extinction. Despite all of our knowledge, we cannot seem to stop our own self-destruction.
Anthropocene, a new play by Ben Wendel and directed by Emily Hawkins and James Christensen, tackles these heavy questions through a coming-of-age grief narrative. The play follows Diana (played by Rosie Yates) shortly after her mother passes away in the 1970s. Diana discovers her mother’s notebook – a messy, scribbled, ingenious, and troubled study of the evolutionary history of mankind. Diana becomes obsessed with her mother’s findings, spiraling into the same obsession to save the world that dominated the end of Diana’s mother’s life. Diana believes her mother left this notebook for her to continue her work. If Diana can understand these pages, she can finish her mother’s legacy and save the world. Her obsession strains her relationship with her father Percy and best friend George (played by Patrick Strain and Jasper Price, respectively). Later on, Diana’s mother’s female research partner Dr.Johann (played by Naomi Paxton) enters and only further fuels Diana’s obsession.
The direction behind Anthropocene is firey. When Diana’s mother’s notebook is read aloud, the poetic writing of abstract evolutionary history is supplemented by tableaus performed by the actors. Taking us through each step of evolution to man’s discovery of fire, they are thoughtful and dramatic sections of movement theatre. The reusage of props in these moments, in particular, show intense creativity on behalf of the directors. A pillow’s fluff becomes snow for the next scene. A lightbulb is the spark of fire. The performers are fully committed to these abstract moments and switch with precision in and out of these evolutionary interludes. Movement director Ben Peterson, composer Ross Baillie-Eames, and Projection Artist Heather Holme have all done phenomenal work in these sections.
My qualm with Anthropocene is its script and character development. In many ways, this is because Anthropocene, like its main character Diana, is full of unrealized potential. The show’s best dialogue is in its quiet, intimate scenes. The conversations between Diana and her best friend, in particular, are naturalistic and full of witty humor. Likewise, Dr.Johann is a breath of fresh air whose intelligence and quirkiness shine through Paxton’s performance.
Yet, Anthropocene is weighed down by the gaudiness of its own themes. It is trying to do a lot in commenting on sexism, intelligence, the need to feel special, evolutionary destruction, and grief. It is a lot for any show to handle – let alone one which is only 75 minutes. Without razor-sharp focus, thematic meaning gets muddy.
Diana’s story is akin to that of David Auburn’s Proof. Like Proof, Diana is struggling with not only the death of a parent but the world around her doubting her intelligence and worth. Except, the relationship between Diana, her mother, and her father never feels fully realized. Diana’s mother’s history of mental decline and obsession is only told to us by others. When Percy lashes out in anger over Diana’s mother’s obsessions, we have had only these off-comments to rely on, making the conversation feel melodramatic, cruel, and underbaked. The scenes between Diana and her father were the weakest throughout the show (and I should say at no fault of the actors’ performances). The dialogue was heavy in obvious subtext, melodramatic at worst, and lacked the nuance, humor, and thought that are so evident in the scenes between other characters.
The plot plods along to familiar grief plot beats. Diana fights with her father. Her best friend tells her that when she’s ready to move on, she can be his friend again. Dr.Johann becomes a mother figure. Yet, Diana’s journey remains underdeveloped. Because there are so many thematic elements, and so little time, it is left unclear how and if Diana has developed into her womanhood and intelligence. The pacing was off throughout, with many scenes needing to be shorter to keep the energy up. The play would also serve greatly with more variation. All of the scenes are between Diana and another person. We never have a moment where three or four of the characters collide at once. A scene with Dr.Johann and Percy fighting over Diana’s obsession might introduce new nuance, which is currently only told, not shown. Diana’s obsession, in particular, veers into comical absurdity by the end wherein she, as I understood it, attempts to create life through a controlled experiment.
Anthropocene is an intelligent show. Yet, it needs trimming and redirection of its main character’s development into adulthood and descent into obsession and grief. The strong creative direction, lighting and sound design, and heartfelt performances all serve to elevate the material. Yet, a house is only as strong as its foundation. With further development, Anthropocene has the makings of vital climate-conscious theatre.
