Although urgent and important, investigating climate change from an international perspective does not sound like a stretch, let alone a thriller towards the finish line. But that's exactly what directors Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin have achieved with Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson's brilliant "Kyoto."

So much necessary information is involved - it covers a decade of increasingly thorny negotiations, culminating in the third COP (Conference of the Parties) in 1997 - that requires a lot of information delivery, often handled through narration. In a tiredly earnest version of a story about the state of the planet, the narrator will be a heroic figure, predictably preaching to the choir about how to reach a deal to curb the behavior of evil fossil fuel companies. A masterstroke by Murphy and Robertson is to remove all of these expectations and instead let a villain narrate the story.

This is the intense story of how the first global treaty in which countries large and small agreed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions was passed. This is not said by a good man; it is delivered to us by Don Pillman (Stephen Kunken), an American lawyer and former government strategist for the Seven Sisters (bosses of major oil companies) work, they aim to achieve very different results.

Since its premiere at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon last year, the play has been cleverly shortened by twenty minutes, and its increasingly faster pace has made the focus less on the minutiae of debate. Yes, this is a drama focused on climate change, but its real theme is the perilous journey from fixed beliefs to necessary compromises. Bargaining, ends and means, and how understanding and action are achieved is what it's all about. This has nothing to do with circumstances: this is brutal diplomacy.

On Miriam Buether’s raised circular set – which doubles as a conference table where international delegates (and audiences) sit and a multi-site performance venue – Key Figures are quickly introduced, examined, and given space to make their case. . Although this suggests a bland exposition, the work is characterized by its energy.

It may all be horribly schematic, but once the playwrights name each country's chief representative, sparks start flying. As Don said before the opening scene, ten years of negotiations turned into two hours and thirty-five minutes of drama means that dialogue, discussion and characterization must have changed. Excitingly opposing personalities begin to emerge.

Nancy Crane plays a very reasonable, powerful American representative (an amalgam of real-life characters) with beautifully styled hair and sincerity. Aïcha Kossoko brought simple gravitas to the Tanzanian representative, Kristin Atherton had fun with the acerbic Angela Merkel, and Dale Rapley switches between Al Gore and truth-telling reporter (and more) with ease.

The all-seeing Jorge Bosch plays the long-suffering Argentine president completely convincingly, but to everyone's surprise he disappears from the climactic discussion in despair. Ferdy Roberts plays the famously forthright British minister John Prescott, one of many characters who brings unexpected wisdom to the production. In fact, the most unlikely but most beloved element of the piece is the laughter it elicits.

Surprisingly, everyone's actions become more and more ridiculous and quite funny, especially in the later stages. Everything became joyful and surreal, with all the representatives throwing quips at each other in a hilarious, fast-paced fantasy, discussing the absolute high seriousness of every imaginable punctuation mark in a single paragraph.

Although the show's conclusion is made up of Don and his family, represented by his wife (the outspoken and tenderly touching Jenna Organ), the truth is that his trajectory in the negotiations has An unexpected conclusion that puts a unique twist on something that might otherwise seem straightforward. Record. After a well-received premiere, the show has been transferred to London's @Soho Place Amphitheater for a limited run and by all accounts looks very likely to continue its journey across continents.