AN ARTISTIC PLEA FOR CHANGE
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the Blizzard Nemo, global climate change is increasingly palpable. As inclement weather infringes on our day-to-day activities, 
we should consider the human action that has propelled our world into these storms. Cynthia Hopkins’ sweeping multimedia musical work This Clement World is a mixed bag, but it addresses the environmental crisis with profound affection for our planet and an urgent call to protect our fragile home.
In September 2010, Hopkins embarked on a three-week Arctic expedition with the non-profit Cape Farewell. Her sharp documentary footage of monumental glaciers and icescapes, seals and polar bears, and fellow travelers on the journey is interwoven with music, movement, and monologues by three fictional characters. With Jeff Sugg’s clean design and D. J. Mendel’s smooth direction, this “one woman show” bravely expands the genre and tackles an important environmental issue in hybrid theatrical form.
The natural grandeur of the Arctic is an undoubted highlight of the drama. Pristine video footage is underscored by Hopkins’ soaring score of indie folk music, fleshed 
out with a lush seven-piece band and chorus. Whether narrating the documentary or soaring in song, Hopkins’ voice embraces the audience with warmth and sincerity.
Hopkins’ work is strongest when she plays “herself”: a poetic theater artist desirous to impart her love for our clement world and her concerns for its future. Her playful performance of her fellow travelers on the ship – from the silent and rugged Captain Ted to the quirky visual artist Iris – is equally endearing.
Yet the fictional characters Hopkins embodies are often questionable. An alien from outer space, disguised as a mustachioed man with a Western twang, is a fun comedic element until he becomes mired in explanation and overly didactic in the latter half of the play. Her embodiment of the ghost of a Native American woman is particularly problematic; she “speaks” only through projections of a hand, writing in a language not her own and accusing the audience of polluting the land.
Still, on the whole, This Clement World makes a compelling theatrical case for appreciating the bounty of this planet and doing what we can to preserve it in all its precarious beauty and tenuous hospitality. As Hopkins intones, “I want to show you what it’s like when you recognize that you have everything you need already in your hands.”
photos by Pavel Antonov
This Clement World
commissioned by the Walker Art Center and Les Subsistances
St. Anne’s Warehouse
scheduled to end on February 17, 2013
for tickets, call 718.254.87 79 or visit http://stannswarehouse.org/
