There’s a laptop open on the stage as the audience files in. On it a digital counter – ticking over with ominous speed – showing the world’s human population growth in real time. 

Emerging British playwright Maude Dromgoole’s 3 Billion Seconds taps into matters Malthusian in 100 minutes spent with eco-activist couple Daisy (played by Izabella Louk) and Michael (Victor Y Z Xu).

Both subscribe to the idea that humankind has become a plague on the Earth and that things are only going to get worse. Much worse, in fact. They do their best to get the message out in guerrilla performance pieces and try to live as carbon-neutral a life as is possible in 21st century London. Turkey Twizzlers are out; vegan is in (mostly).

Photo © Phil Erbacher

Theirs is a friendship with benefits other than a full-blown romantic thing, but after a vasectomy-related misunderstanding, Daisy falls pregnant. Does that mean their commitment to the ideals of zero population growth goes out the window? Or is there another way to balance the sustainability book? If you’re going to add one, does that make it morally acceptable to … take...