Greenland
Relaxed Performance – Story Guide
Tuesday 7th April 2026 at 2pm
The Sainsbury Theatre, LAMDA
Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes (no interval)
Content warnings: Contains explicit language and minor use of blood.
KEY POINTS
• You are welcome to leave and re-enter from the theatre as you need.
• There is a break-out area available in The Rittner Room - look out for signage before the show or ask a Front of House member for directions.
• House lighting is on low throughout.
• Loud noises are reduced.
• Strobes or flashing lights are slowed down.
• You are welcome to react to the show however you want.
• This pack contains a show synopsis and sensory guide highlighting potentially challenging or sudden moments.
Arriving at LAMDA
When you arrive at LAMDA, the box office is to your right. You should pick up your ticket here, using your name.
Toilets are located right next to box office.
LAMDA staff will be wearing LAMDA branded T-Shirts or lanyards. If you need any assistance whilst in the building, please ask them.
This is the Theatre Foyer. You may be asked to wait here until the house is open.
This performance will take place in the Sainsbury Theatre.
This is one of the entrances.
When you enter, an usher will take your ticket from you. You can sit in any seat.
There is a break-out space called ‘The Rittner Room’ which you are welcome to use at any point during your visit. It can be accessed via the stairs or lift in the main entrance foyer.
If you aren’t sure about any of this information during your visit please ask an usher or anybody wearing a lanyard.
Before the show begins, the actors will introduce themselves and the characters they are playing.
The lights in the theatre will dim and she show will start. You can leave and re-enter if you need to through the doors you came in through.
At the end of the show the actors will come on and bow. You are welcome to clap at this point if you would like.
Synopsis
Below is a brief synopsis of the play to aid in contextualizing the following sensory guide.
Greenland is a collaborative play by Buffini, Charman, Skinner & Thorne, commissioned by the National Theatre (Lyttelton). Set against the backdrop of the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference, it weaves together multiple storylines to explore the human cost of the climate crisis from fifteen different perspectives. At its centre is Phoebe, a government worker driven by a desperate need to act on the environment, whose conviction is shaken when she falls for a scientist whose vision of the future holds no hope. Elsewhere, Lisa wrestles with what it means to be a genuine activist in a world of compromise; a couple find their relationship fracturing under the weight of opposing views on climate change; and in Alaska, scientists quietly count guillemots as the natural world shifts around them.
Together, these interlocking stories ask not just what we are doing to the planet, but what the crisis is doing to us.
Here is a guide to sensory information symbols in this document:
Below is a sensory guide for the performance that shows potential distressing actions in the play, split up by scenes
SCENE 1Smoke will envelop the stage.
SCENE 2 -
Loud rock music overlapping with many people speaking at the same time and strong lights.
SCENE 3 -
No distressing content.
SCENE 4Freya and Sarah have a slightly heated argument.
SCENE 5Al throws Lisa's books on the floor.
SCENE 6 -
Loud noise imitating a ship at sea during a storm (thunders) and strong lights. The cast animates the scene recreating the ship battle.
SCENE 7loud music
SCENE 8No distressing content
SCENE 9loud music.
SCENE 10 -
Adeel catches 2 chairs that are thrown from backstage. (but will be caught so will not result in any loud noises). A voice distortion mic will be used.
SCENE 11 -
A small fire on stage. Loud noises.
SCENE 12 -
Loud overlapping dialogue. Dav pushes Pam off hair chair.
SCENE 13 -
Ray and Phoebe are on the phone again. Loud beeping voice note tone.
SCENE 14Loud beat music and flashing lights.
SCENE 15 -
A polar bear appears on stage and gets very close to Harry and Harold. A loud groan as it walks away.
SCENE 16slightly heated argument
SCENE 17No distressing content.
SCENE 18 -
A heated argument. Celia jumps through a trap in the floor as she is learning to dive.
SCENE 19 -
Adeel throws the box through the trap in the floor and then climbs out of it.
SCENE 20 -
Phoebe throws her phone off stage. A slightly heated argument.
SCENE 21Lisa appears through the trap in the floor.
SCENE 22 -
A heated argument. The whole ensemble surrounds Harold and Robert on stage in circular movements. Harry shakes and trambles as he dies.
At the end of the scene, very very loud music, flashing lights and sound come in mimicking the snow rising and consuming the ensemble.
------End------
During the end people will clap and may stand up, cheer or shout to tell the actors they did a good job.
