‘Galilee’ tackles climate change in a way that is neither didactic nor depressing

Plays about climate change generally are “either super didactic or very depressing,” said Rebecca May Flowers, co-artistic director of Azuka Theatre, where she is directing Galilee, a world premiere about the environment that is neither didactic nor depressing.

“I think this play does a job that I haven’t seen other plays do which is create a piece that talks about the environment in a real way but is also entertaining,” she said. “It’s moving, it’s funny, all on its own. It doesn’t feel like doomsday.”

Galilee is set in a fictional town off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The protagonist, Carol, who studied marine biology in college, feels deeply connected to her community whose livelihood depends on the ocean. “She is distressed that mining industries are mining in the harbor, which is dredging up things that shouldn’t be dredged up, releasing chemicals, and it’s wreaking havoc on the businesses that rely on the ocean and reef,” Flowers said.

Carol’s mother owns a beauty shop, where some of the play’s action takes place. Sales are down — fewer tourists and less disposable income among Carol’s neighbors who rely on fishing and diving, both impacted by the mining in the harbor.

“This is definitely macro to micro — the environment to the ocean, to communities, to businesses, to families, to people, including Carol,” Flowers said. Luckily, there’s Jimmy — a Jesus-like prophet — who is both ridiculed and revered by the townsfolk. Jimmy claims he is getting urgent messages from Harold, a hybrid shark, to save the harbor’s fish. While the town is fictional, the name Galilee refers to the Galilee Basin off the Australian coast, a coal-rich area that is being mined amid protests.

Flowers encountered Christine Evans’ Galilee through a reading at PlayPenn, a Philadelphia-based new play and playwright development program. Because of the challenges involved in staging a play about climate change, theaters haven’t been as quick to include these works, Flowers said.

Interestingly, Azuka shares theater space with InterAct Theatre Co., which recently finished a run of pay no worship, about the impact of climate change on two cousins on Fogo, an island off the African coast.

“I think we have the privilege of choosing stories to share with thousands of people — and with that privilege is a responsibility to illuminate what is happening in our world in a responsible way,” Flowers said. “Climate is one area in which I don’t see that happening as much, so I really feel a responsibility.”

Galilee ends with a clear call to action.

Per Flowers, “It reminds you to keep on fighting even if it does look really bleak. It gives you that boost to keep on keeping on — to keep on fighting for another day.”

“Galilee,” Azuka Theatre, runs May 4-21 at the Proscenium at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St., Phila. Pay what you decide after the show. 215-563-1100 or azukatheatre.org Check with the theater for COVID-19 protocols.

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