A Unique Show About The Climate Crisis: Cruising Review | Ellen Leslie

Image credit: Henry Roberts

★★★★

Set on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, Cruising is a unique two-hander looking at the climate crisis and open relationships. When one of the ship’s dancers Amelia (Clare Stenning) meets climate activist Sam (Davy Roderick), they discover they have one unlikely thing in common: they have the same partner Tony. Despite previously agreeing that they won’t get into relationships with each other’s partners, the two cannot deny their unmistakeable chemistry, and end up launching a plan to make the world pay attention to the climate crisis.

The show is packed with character development. Amelia is very prickly, and her put-downs of Sam in the first half of the show are hard to watch. It slowly peels off over the course of the play, and she takes the lead in their project, making Sam’s ideas even bigger. Although they start off awkward and shy, Sam grows in confidence throughout the play. A scene where they are drunk is when they really come into their own; they are hilarious to watch. Their belief that arts and politics go together like mayonnaise and rice is just one of their exceptional one-liners.

The dynamics of an open relationship are explored well. The characters lament about the difficulty of finding other people who are also in open relationships, and joke that they should invent a secret handshake. While jealousy does sometimes occur, there are also positive aspects, best demonstrated by Amelia’s ability to support Tony after they get out of prison, while Sam processes their own trauma. It is interesting that we never see or hear Tony, but they have so much influence over the characters: Amelia backs away from ideas after her phone calls with them, and Sam’s growing confidence shrinks away.

While the show is educational—did you know that the 218 cruise ships there are in Europe emit four times more sulphur oxides than all the cars on the continent?—it doesn’t feel preachy. Instead, the character’s personal views encourage us not to worry too much about the big stuff: Sam admits to obsessing over trivial issues as a distraction from the severity of the climate crisis.  There isn’t a call-to-arms to ban cruise ships; it is just two characters doing bold, entertaining and sometimes stupid pranks that make a statement against the cruise industry. It is important to note that the characters are very middle class, which makes their actions less relatable and inspiring to working class people

Cruising is a very unique Fringe show, a feat that’s difficult to achieve considering the huge amount of shows on offer. It’s proof that arts and politics do mix together: a lot better than mayonnaise and rice anyway!

Cruising will be performed at Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker One until 31 August (not 25) as part of Edinburgh Fringe.

By Ellen Leslie