Paul Symonloe

The Edge Paul Symonloe

I really want you to read this play. I could be polite and say it would be nice, but that doesn't really cover it. As news media across the world bear witness to youth campaigning against inertia on climate change, you may have wondered what you can do to change minds. If yes, this play calls on your help. The Edge imagines ways closed minds can be persuaded to open and hope prevail. Perform a miracle. Look with fresh and fearless eyes at planet Earth. Man's insanity has brought us to the edge, and along with us, everything that exists. The Edge foresees a coming disaster, its designated victims pitched in front of nature's fury. A violent flood sweeps down a hillside, savages a bridge, and engulfs a road. Like us, the chosen humans may dislike some views and identify with others, but as fellow passengers in one fragile boat, we and they are compelled to listen. "It's really compelling. I love the unorthodox setting and the characters feel archetypal, but not over-obviously. It's a knowing and fairly explicit allegory, but treated with the right amount of irony and self-awareness that makes it quite charming. The humour is also very good, I feel it will come across really well on stage, and although you can clearly write very snappy dialogue, I appreciate how you reserve it for the characters that would actually talk that way. There is often an Aaron Sorkin-esque tendency in witty playwriting to have everyone be very clever and funny, and it means the characters all speak in the same way, but this isn't the case with your work." Oliva Burgin, TV Producer