'Deep History' review — a journey through the history of climate change
Read our review of Deep History off Broadway, a North American-premiere play written and performed by David Finnigan at The Public Theater through November 10.
Early in David Finnigan’s autobiographical narrative Deep History, he recalls how his career path diverged from his family's: Finnigan's father is a climate scientist, and their shared care for the environment propelled Finnigan to make theatre about environmentalism. He says, “Art can change people’s minds in a way that science sometimes can’t.” A viable claim and certainly a noble pursuit. But Deep History is closer to a TED Talk than theatrical art.
Finnigan, a pleasant stage presence, spends 70 minutes detailing the current state of climate change, felt viscerally as his home in southeast Australia is eaten away by uncontrollable brush fires. Meanwhile, his father is in the hospital for a spinal infection. Finnigan promises to write up notes for his father’s incomplete paper about the possible future of humanity.
Humanity, Finnigan argues, is in its teenage years, and the climate catastrophe isn’t something that’s coming, but something that defines our current era. We are in the “Climate Era”, where natural disasters are changing life as we know it and the literal topography of the earth. Finnigan charts human history in six turning points and lessons, with a slideshow of pictures from the past and present, a large piece of paper to track the six lessons, and a funnel of sugar to represent the population.
The information itself is intermittently compelling, particularly as Finnigan tries to reframe the current climate upheaval as a mere period of history that may radically change us, but will nonetheless segue into another era sometime in the future. But, even as he tries to imbue the historical moments with something like pathos, Deep History never achieves a real artfulness or transformative experience. There’s little theatrical about it, and there are few differences in tone, cadence, or style to distinguish points in its jumbled timeline.
Ironically, Finnigan spends much time explaining his past as a theatremaker devising art about the history of humanity and the environment. We see pictures of a goofy, costumed Finnigan presumably exploring the potential theatre has to engage in the issues of our time through play and imagination. But Deep History's problem is that, however useful reframing the Climate Era may be, the show is a bit too unvarnished to stand the test of time.
Deep History summary
Playwright David Finnigan bookends his show with pop songs, including Carolin Polachek’s “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”. Finnigan, barefoot and genial, tells the audience about his father’s history as a micro-meteorologist and interest in humanity’s past, present, and precarious future. From 75,000 years ago to today, amid unpredictable weather that affects his home in southern Australia, Finnigan tries to draw a roadmap for surviving the Climate Era.
What to expect at Deep History
Deep History is a one-man show where Finnigan, working from a mostly unchanged script from 2019, explores his own past and present of dealing with the changing climate of the earth. During the historical moments, Finnigan creates a character who is reimagined and reincarnated through time, and during these moments, a moody screensaver of the given environment glows in the background on the projector screen.
What audiences are saying about Deep History
As of publication, Deep History only has a few audience reviews on the aggregator site Show-Score.
- “Not really a theatrical piece. More like a history lesson about the so-called climate crises. Yawn.” - Show-Score user Robert 7281
- “Climate crisis TED Talk with a sprinkling of dramatic plot. How can we learn from our past on how to deal with the crisis? 1-person show with slideshow for the bulk of it.” - Show-Score user JKJK
Read more audience reviews of Deep History on Show-Score.
Who should see Deep History
- If you care about the climate crisis, you will appreciate how Finnigan contextualizes it in history.
- Those interested in learning about human history will be interested in the various turning points in our species’ lifespan.
- Lovers of Caroline Polacheck and/or Justin Bieber will be pleased by the pop musicians’ inclusion in the show.
Learn more about Deep History
Finnigan admirably tries to make the era of irrevocable climate change understandable, but Deep History feels like parts of potentially better shows, rather than a strong one on its own terms. Not enough of it is actually theatrical, which undermines Finnigan’s desire to marry art, science, history, humanity, and theatre for the audience. In the end, the show isn’t that deep.
Photo credit: Deep History off Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)
Originally published on