Mind the (time) gap

According to Amitav Ghosh (2016), climate change constitutes also a “crisis of the imagination,” as it evades our grasp due to the vastness of its temporal frame. Any shifts in climatic patterns are measured in geological time, whose uncanniness makes it difficult for people to meaningfully relate to it. Hence, addressing the current crisis must start by finding ways of enhancing our imagination and capacity for understanding. It can be argued that the medium of theatre is uniquely suited to bringing unfamiliar timelines within the boundaries of a framed temporal experience, which enables juxtaposing different worlds and temporalities. Based on the example of two plays: 2071 by Christ Rapley and Duncan Macmillan, and Extinct by April De Angelis, the article examines the ways in which playwrights engaging with the topic of climate change explore the capacity of theatre for colliding various timelines in order to address the “crisis of imagination” that is currently barring audiences from fully grasping the implications of the ongoing changes.