At a United Nations climate-change conference in 1997, after a contentious effort to secure a global commitment to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. This important milestone is the subject of a play by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson that premiered in Stratford-upon-Avon last year and is now making its London debut. “The secret is that Kyoto is actually a play about a total bastard,” writes the Time Out editor Andrzej Lukowski. He’s referring to the antihero, Don Pearlman (Stephen Kunken), an American oil lobbyist and the bill’s fiercest opponent. Covering the decade leading up to the conference and the event itself, the play is a surprisingly gripping tale of cynicism, political maneuvers, and the hidden dramas that unfold behind the scenes. —Jeanne Malle