The trials

'Everyone lived like we did! Well maybe not everyone, everyone. But. I wasn't any worse than anyone else.' The near future. The climate emergency is gathering pace, and our generation is being judged. The jurors are children. But are they delivering justice - or just taking revenge? Dawn King's searing play The Trials was first performed at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in 2021, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. It received its British premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in August 2022, directed by Natalie Abrahami. The Trials offers an exciting opportunity for theatre companies to address the climate emergency and intergenerational conflict, as the jury of 12 to 17-year-olds hold the stage alongside three adult defendants.