A Climate of Discontent

The risks posed by climate change have gotten less attention in recent weeks, with all the alarm bells being sounded about artificial intelligence’s potential to finish us off. But our beleaguered environment has reclaimed center stage, literally, at the West End Theatre off-Broadway, where Joshua Owen’s first play, “Human Things,” is now running.Set on a remote island in the South Pacific where a scientist in her early 30s has been stationed to study a dwindling population of migratory birds, “Things” focuses on two couples: the researcher, Margaret, and her husband, Greg, an engineer, and a pair of tourists in their 70s, Bo and Darce, who arrive stranded, seeking first aid for Darce’s injured foot.The time is identified in the script as “now or maybe soon.” There’s a reference at one point to a group of people who “tried colonizing” the island “back in the twenties.” Jacob Bers’s set suggests, at least initially, a crude shelter, with items ranging from a transistor radio to kitchen equipment scattered on tables, amid notebooks and samples. A.I. is, clearly, not in the picture.The scenic design will change considerably in the second act to reflect a major disruption towards the end of the first, but suffice it to say that conditions do not improve. (Be warned that physical harm to one character is depicted quite graphically.) Mr. Owen’s concerns include our vulnerability as members of society and mere mortals as well as inhabitants of a dying planet, and he shuffles and connects these factors with impressive cleverness.The playwright is helped by an excellent cast, nimbly directed by Rory McGregor, whose previous credits include the U.S. premieres of “Blackout Songs” and “The Wasp.” Darce and Bo are respectively played by two-time Tony Award winner Victoria Clark, returning to the New York stage after her fourteenth Broadway gig in last season’s “Punch,” and her fellow acting veteran Michael Mulheren, one of our more recognizable and enduring character actors.Mr. Mulheren’s Bo enters wearing a Hawaiian shirt and babbling about hitting a reef with his car; he might as well have the word “rube” printed on his forehead. His observations and his back story, and Darce’s, will pose a marked contrast to those of the younger, more educated couple; at times, Mr. Owen borders on condescension in stressing the earthy good sense of these simple folk. But intriguing similarities also emerge between these very different people, even as conflicts arise. The greatest tension, notably, exists within Greg and Margaret’s relationship; she’s a do-gooder and an independent spirit, where he seems more self-absorbed, not to mention frustrated that his wife is more gainfully employed. The character listings describe him as “a bit of a sad sack,” while Margaret is deemed “exceptional”; she “probably married down,” it’s added.Interestingly, Margaret is played by Mr. Owen’s own spouse, Rebeca Robles, who is luminous in the role. Ben Rosenfield, who gained recognition more than a decade ago in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” uses his delicate good looks to great advantage, giving Greg a weaselly quality that makes you root even more for his better half.But Darce, the last to enter, becomes the most compelling figure here, and predictably, Ms. Clark, who earned her Tonys playing emotionally complex characters in musicals, brings wit and grit as well as profound empathy to the role. The bond that develops between Darce and Margaret, based on complementary insights and strengthened by the men’s less enlightened behavior — in the past, in Darce’s case — is the play’s most winning feature, and it’s enhanced by the actresses’ own warm, easy chemistry.In keeping with his plainly feminist perspective, and perhaps his affection for Ms. Robles, Mr. Owen gives Margaret the most moving monologue, involving a city of birds built on a turtle, all ultimately drowned. The metaphor is obvious, and it reinforces the link between our internal struggles and those that can seem beyond our control except for which, as “Human Things” reminds us, we also bear some responsibility.

A Climate of Discontent

A Climate of Discontent

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