As if we needed more evidence, the wildfires currently ravaging Southern California prove yet again how our world is shaped by appallingly well-justified climate anxieties.
Some of us remember the helplessness and devastation of watching Fort MacMurray burn to the ground. The McDougall Creek Wildfire in the Central Okanagan region of British Columbia in August 2023 expanded so rapidly that on the third day, the Mayor of West Kelowna issued a Local State of Emergency. Last July, wildfires in Jasper National Park forced the evacuation of 25,000 people, destroyed 358 of the town’s structures, and burned out of control until Parks Canada finally declared them “under control” on September 7.
Meanwhile, we try to wrap our heads around the fact that a winter snowfall is now a special occurrence, not the norm of our childhoods.
Given the prevalence of such extremities of nature, now is an eerily perfect time for Adam Paolozza’s latest work Last Landscape. It invites audiences to reflect on what it means to remember and reimagine nature when it’s no longer part of our lived reality. Through a tactile, handmade aesthetic and an innovative blend of physical theatre and eco-dramaturgy, Paolozza and his team at Bad New Days, in collaboration with Common Boots Theatre, have crafted an urgent, moving, and sadly prescient meditation on extinction, ecological grief, and interspecies care.
No human protagonist
The inspiration for Last Landscape came to Paolozza during the pandemic, when he was grieving the loss of live theatre and spending time in nature, especially at Sunnyside Park near his apartment in Parkdale. “Looking at the trees, the grass, the lake, I was able to tap more deeply into the present moment. And I started to think more deeply about time. I thought about the earth before humans, and possibly after us. I thought about how we might mourn nature, as I was mourning theatre, if it was somehow lost.”
These reflections became the foundation for a theatrical exploration where the landscape itself becomes the true protagonist. In Last Landscape, an ensemble of workers recreates natural scenes from memory, using hand-made props and scenic marionettes. As Paolozza explains it, these workers “create images of nature out of an assortment of objects…bringing it to life using that kind of rough magic that theatre can sometimes invoke”. The choice to use marionettes and props, rather than traditional narrative elements, underscores the play’s deliberate elision of conventional dramaturgy.
Here, there is no human main character and “no conflict, plot, psychology, etc. It’s more like dance or object theatre,” which aims to evoke “subtle affective ambiances that echo the complex emotional states we can sometimes feel before nature”. In doing so, Paolozza offers a new lens through which audiences can engage with both the human art form and the supra-human existential questions it poses.
Tragic exuberance
Last Landscape embodies an unblinkered candour with which Paolozza assesses the state of our natural environment. “I’m tired of the false hope trope, or the cautiously optimistic gesture at the end of a lot of works that speak about climate change,” he notes. Instead, the play embraces what he calls “tragic exuberance,” a combination of grief and spirit that reflects the resilience of human connection in times of crisis. “Although there’s a sense of loss permeating the piece” – this is the candour – “it’s presented with great joy and playfulness, as well. It focuses on a collective form being explored in the workers that…might even be a more meaningful way of being than our contemporary one.” By rejecting simplistic optimism, Paolozza challenges audiences to sit in contradiction: with the discomfort of ecological grief and appreciation for the profound beauty and meaning that can emerge from shared experiences of loss.
Visually and emotionally, Last Landscape is designed to restore, rather than agitate. In a time when overstimulation dominates both art and daily life, Paolozza is aiming here to slow things down. He likens the experience to listening to minimalist or timbral music, which “narrows down the focus of the listener to the ever-developing moment”. By focusing on the movement and vibration of images inspired by nature, the production invites audiences to slip into a pace that is more reflective of the natural world. “The images in the show, though not always slow, are designed to slow you down, much like what happens when one sits before a natural landscape,” he explains. “They invite the audience to tap into the felt experience of the present moment.”
This careful attention to duration and texture is a deliberate choice to counteract the stress and disconnection of what Paolozza calls “our stressed-out, late capitalist lives”. Rather than overwhelming the senses, the production aspires to recalibrate them gently, offering a meditative space for reflection and renewal.
Physical theatre
Physical theatre, a hallmark of Bad New Days, is an ideal medium for this eco-dramaturgical exploration because of its unique ability to bypass the rational mind. “Embodied theatre appeals to our affective, associative side,” Paolozza explains. “I personally think that there’s more chance to move people by appealing to these aspects of their nature, rather than merely to their rational selves.”
This embodied approach aligns seamlessly with the principles of eco-dramaturgy, a term coined by Teresa May to describe theatre practice that “attends to our ecological relations and responsibilities, and puts those relationships at the center of the work”. For Paolozza, physical forms lend themselves to the challenge of climate change far better than simple language or narrative. “Eco-dramaturgy asks us to create new forms that harness theatre’s affective potential – not only to talk about climate change, but to embody it,” he notes. In this way, Last Landscape not only tells a story about ecological loss: it becomes a living expression of it.
A DIY aesthetic
The production, which features colossal puppets of prehistoric megafauna, is brought to life by an impressive cast, including Nada Abusaleh, Nicholas Eddie, Gibum Dante Lim, Annie Luján, Adam Paolozza, and Kari Pederson. Live music and turntablism by SlowPitchSound further enrich the sensory experience, blending seamlessly with the piece’s DIY aesthetic to create a “slowly transforming, imagistic meditation” on environmental collapse and its emotional resonance.
In its cobbled-togetherness, explains Paolozza, Last Landscape reflects a deeper critique of modern life and “a response to our need to make do with less in the world, if we’re going to share this planet more equitably”. In an age dominated by sleek digital interfaces and mass production, the handmade quality of the props and marionettes feels both nostalgic and subversive. This aesthetic is “a question to the audience, asking them to re-evaluate conventional notions of what is deemed aesthetically beautiful or valuable in a piece of art”. By embracing imperfection and resourcefulness, Last Landscape suggests a model for living and creating that is more sustainable and community-focused.
Reflecting on the play’s themes and potential impact, Paolozza offers a hopeful yet grounded perspective: “While the piece isn’t optimistic about the future, it isn’t overly pessimistic about people, either. It’s a vision of the world as I’d like to see it, with people working together in meaningful ways.”
Result: a deliberately slow, welcoming experience
In Paolozza’s view, “theatre is a slow technology.” And he believes “people are craving slower things, things that don’t spike cortisol, things that calm their parasympathetic nervous system.”
“At least I am,” he smiles.
So Last Landscape is just that: a slow and subtle invitation into a world where the tactile and the ephemeral merge in a reflection on loss and a quiet celebration of what remains. As theatre, storytelling and impacted human beings in California and around the globe grapple with pressing ecological questions, Last Landscape is a poignant and important reminder of our capacity for care, connection . . . and creativity.
Last Landscape, recipient of the Ray Ferris Innovation and Sustainability Grant, runs until January 26, 2025 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, a Bad New Days production in partnership with Common Boots Theatre. For tickets and showtimes, visit buddiesinbadtimes.com.
© Arpita Ghosal, Sesaya Arts Magazine, 2025
