As the curtain closes on Kyoto’s US premiere, we look back on the play’s journey to the Lincoln Center, and the lasting impact of its important message.
From its beginnings at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon via @sohoplace in London, Kyoto – the Olivier Award-winning play by Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy – has now travelled all the way to New York’s Lincoln Center Theater, while making waves on a global scale.
The play, which dramatises the 1997 climate negotiations that led to the Kyoto Protocol – the world’s first legally binding international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a political thriller, is the first of RSC Co-Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey’s tenure to premiere in the US.
It opened at New York’s Lincoln Center Theatre on 8 October, during a time of political upheaval worldwide. Its staging also coincided with the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), which – significantly – the US did not attend for the first time.
The show’s star-studded press night attracted big names from across the political and art world, including former US Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. It finished a sold out run on 30 November 2025, raking in rave reviews from critics and audiences alike.
But Kyoto’s impact has clearly reached much further than the stage door. Playwrights Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy were named in TIME Magazine’s 2025 TIME100 Climate list, which recognises the 100 most innovative leaders driving business climate action.
In the magazine, they called for more recognition for the role of art and artists in discussions about the climate agenda, saying “Art that humanises the climate crisis in surprising and dramatic ways is in itself a climate solution.”
We’re delighted at the show’s reception, and truly believe this extraordinary play’s lasting impact will be in its message of hope and global unification against all odds.
AloJapan.com