There’s good and bad news about the world in 2030. We aren’t already dead, the ABC still exists, and journalists who work for newspapers still have jobs. On the flip side, people still smoke, use the ‘C’ word, and we’ve broken the planet.

Ansuya Nathan and Chris Asimos in Hiberation. Photo © Chris Herzfeld

The world premiere of Hibernation by Finegan Kruckemeyer opens to an audience witnessing an existential crisis of a more immediate nature. Parallels are inevitably drawn as a stark white cyclorama featuring a large, round digital window, flashes images of our modern industrialised and natural world. This clever portal conveys much throughout with timelines, moods and vision of characters we’ve already met. The action, which unfolds over nine non-linear years, across five continents, is dotted with humour, but the subject matter could not be more serious. This ambitious undertaking explores the dire consequences of an extreme decision that the world sees as a Hail Mary.

Jonathon Oxlade’s outstanding set and costume design imparts coldness and modernity on the approach to the event, then warmth and intimacy in the sleeping world. Ultimately, the return to the bleak, stark...