Emotional, environmental, and existential crises collide in the whirlwind hour or so of the Brian Watkins-penned Weather Girl. Buoyed by an exceptional performance from Julia McDermott, it makes for a compelling piece of theatre that delivers on multiple fronts.
It’s a play to leave audiences well-weathered, but certainly not worn out
At the eye of the storm is McDermott’s bright and breezy California girl Stacey. With a pasted-on grin and perfectly coiffed hair, she’s the titular forecaster whose homeland is facing rising temperatures and raging wildfires. It’s an increasingly deadly situation, but when you’re slotted between powder-puff news pieces about baby hippos and light banter with the news team, you’re expected to keep things positive and that’s exactly what Stacey does. At least on the outside.
Below her chipper persona lies a prosecco-fuelled maelstrom of disillusionment and fear. As the increasingly frantic monologuing goes on, McDermott expertly navigates this duality, imbuing Stacey with a complexity that makes her both relatable and deeply tragic. The tension she builds is palpable, particularly as the wildfires - both literal and metaphorical - encroach on her carefully constructed facade.
Under Tyne Rafaeli's direction, the production maintains a brisk pace, and some of the strands - in particular, a murky supernatural water divination element - feel a touch forced in the space they’re allotted. Nevertheless, Rafaeli’s direction ensures that the play’s most powerful dramatic beats, particularly Stacey’s increasingly frantic weather reports, land with significant impact, even if the script dips into a sense of unlikely optimism in its denouement. Despite delving into the dark undercurrent of an American nightmare, the tale can’t help but end in the glow of that Californian sunshine.
Weather Girl smartly personalises concerns about climate change and personal agency, and McDermott elevates the tale with a great on-stage display. They’re not easy themes to explore on stage, but the play does well to confront the problems of an increasingly unpredictable and often very dangerous environmental situation with a society that is all too often characterised by denial. It’s a play to leave audiences well-weathered, but certainly not worn out.
