Atlantis

by Emily White

seen at the Minerva Theatre Chichester on 8 August 2026

In a co-production with Theatr Clwyd Guy Jones directs Vivien Parry as Gwen, Richard Elfyn as her husband Bryn, Catrin Aaron as their daughter Claire, Eirlys Lovell-Jones as their granddaughter Rhiannon, Alfie Llewellyn as their grandson Phillip and Sara Otung as Phillip's girlfriend and later wife Astrid in Emily White's accomplished play Atlantis, which deals with the impact of climate change on a beleaguered Welsh fishing village in the years from 2011 to 2039. There are three pairs of children variously taking the parts of young Rhiannon, young Phillip, and Phillip and Astrid's child (either David or Eleanor depending on the child performing: we saw Eleanor). 

Fairbourne, an imaginary place, is a small village surrounded by salt marshes. We see the beach - sand and pebbles strewn across the front of the acting area and partly covered by sun-bleached board walks - and the living room of the family: a versatile set designed by Frankie Bradshaw. Bryn is a fisherman; Gwen has often been absent while participating in various activist causes, most notably for her perhaps the long-running Greenham Common protest of the 1980s. They are bringing up their young grandchildren as Claire, their daughter and the children's mother, is swamped by her shift work in a care home. At the play's opening Gwen is telling folk stories to the youngsters, including those tales of kingdoms lost under the sea, but the adults have just become aware that their whole village is imperilled by the council's decision to abandon the modification of any sea defences even though sea levels are projected to drown the village within the next few years. Not only that, but the home owners will receive no compensation - and of course once the situation is publicised it is impossible for the homes to be sold.

Though we don't care to think closely about this, such a predicament will be widespread in Britain (let alone the rest of the world). When village activism brings reporters to Fairbourne, Bryn reels off a list of places likely to be affected, including major cities on river estuaries. The reporter superciliously points out that hard decisions must be made since resources will be too scarce and unaffordable to protect the entire coastline - but this is scant comfort for anyone about to lose their home and livelihood. The only concession the locals win is that the council will not force evictions by cutting off utility supplies.

Such issues could swamp a play with earnest rhetoric, but in Atlantis the wider picture is skilfully interwoven with the family drama, though we are witnessing a family with its own rich traditions of political awareness and engagement: Astrid, when she first gets to know them, is absolutely amazed and impressed, though later she becomes disenchanted. Likewise the family drama, with tensions between Bryn staunchly defending his own perceived rights often exasperated by Gwen who goes off saving the world, Claire almost overwhelmed by work, and the youngsters facing a very insecure future, could have become mawkish and melodramatic, but it never does. Bryn and Gwen have serious disagreements, but their bond can cope with the strain. Later, Rhiannon and Astrid have an excoriating argument about the issue of bringing children into the world, but with the long time frame of the play, we see that years later they manage a tacit if still somewhat frosty accommodation with one another. This is the stuff or "ordinary" family life portrayed in an unfussy style which makes it totally believable. The passage of time brings loss and illness, and some degree of bitterness and estrangement, all revealed with an understated poignancy in the midst of the encroaching environmental crisis.

All in all, this production manages the difficult feat of blending the widest ecological issues with an intimate family portrait without compromising either strand. The result is theatre doing what it does best: challenging and entertaining at once.