No Place Called Home manages to put the human element into the climate crisis with grace and empathy, mapping out a future that many could realistically face.
Discussion of the climate crisis often gets swept away in dramatic weather and catastrophes, but No Place Called Home brings it back to the personal level, with a heartbreaking story focused on one couple and their friend. As the crisis worsens off-stage, we follow how this affects the real lives of people in true tragic style.
The performance from Eliana Kiakides as Laura manages to stand out amongst searingly good performances from the rest of the cast. Each one should be deservedly proud of the ease with which they characterise themselves and manage to present an empathetic view, no matter where in the plot they stand.
The split between past and present is gripping from the very beginning, presenting questions to the audience that slowly become clear. The plot isn’t spoonfed, leaving the audience wondering and free to make some of their own deductions, making it well worth one or even two watches to get the full picture.
One of the best endings seen in a show this year, No Place Called Home knows the story it’s telling and wraps it up perfectly, with a pace that knows when to hold and when to speed up. You see only glimpses of the inner life of a couple, but it’s enough to extrapolate out and learn an awful lot. The play speaks to a conflict between hope and pessimism, idealism and realism and, while far from being a happy ending, does offer some measure of motivation to not fall into the same traps we’ve seen play out on stage.
No Place Called Home might deliver a message some people don’t want to hear, but it does so in such a way that it’s perfectly palatable.
