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You’re Safe Til 2024: Deep History

David Finnigan

Armed with a projector, family photos and a pile of sand, playwright David Finnigan relates how 75 hours in modern Australia came to collide with an epic sweep of history in this award-winning show.

At the end of 2019, in the English countryside, Finnigan began writing a play about the six turning points that have brought us to this moment in time – our ecosystems transformed, our planet on the brink of unthinkable climate disaster. But then his hometown of Canberra was hit by bushfires. As an area the size of England burned and one billion animals perished, he started to receive texts from loved ones racing to evacuate amid the devastation.

In a performance that interweaves 75,000 years of humanity with the incredibly personal account of his best friend’s escape, Finnigan calls on scientific research, phone footage and storytelling to illuminate unprecedented global change and how we’ve arrived here. Shot through with humour, pop culture and a rich electronic soundtrack, You’re Safe Til 2024 speaks of resilience and hope.

1 hour, no interval

Age guidance 14+

Fri 30 Sep
Audio-described performance
Post-show talk (free to same-day ticket holders), facilitated by Jay Mistry, Professor of Environmental Geography, Royal Holloway University of London and Associate Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society.

Take a look at our Accessible Events page to find out more about the accessibility of our venues.

Presented by the Barbican

Supported by the Australian Government as part of the UK/Australia Season 2021-22.

Image credit: Sarah Walker

Reviews

‘a contemplative and equivocal investigation of what theatre can do in the face of environmental collapse‘
The Guardian
‘Finnigan’s power over the audience is palpable. He moves a rapt crowd through stages of understanding the threats facing the planet, and then cautiously, towards the slivers of hope we have left‘
‘A personal drama driven both by passion and a low-key but effective theatrical verve‘
‘It’s hard to imagine a fresh perspective on climate change, but Finnigan finds one‘
‘A must-see piece of theatre‘

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