Tucson production puts environmental issues, life in focus

M asks W a simple question: should we have a baby?

The answer is anything but simple in Duncan Macmillan’s play “Lungs,” now on stage at Live Theatre Workshop.

The two 30-somethings, identified only as M and W, are smart and thoughtful. They need to discuss the often-not-discussed issues about having children: its impact on the environment, climate change, adding to an overpopulated world, the carbon footprint made over a lifetime (“10,000 tons of CO2,” she points out).

And discuss it they do, deeply, frantically and fully. Their anxiety is through the roof and Aaron Cammack as M and Taigé Lauren as W make their neurosis palpable in this love story between two flawed people who just want to do good in the world.

This is not an easy play to do — it contains pages and pages of dialogue with no punctuation as each character erupts with reasons for and against. They talk over each other. There is a blank stage, long pauses, huge jumps in time (it covers the couple’s lifetime), no props. There is no place for the actors to hide in the 85-minute, intermission-free production.

And you don’t want these two actors to hide: each is packed with talent and has embraced the challenging material beautifully. Director Robert Encila made sure that the clarity that could have easily been lost was there.

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Playwright Macmillan is kind of a genius with natural dialogue, and this play addresses environmental issues without being preachy.

But this piece falls apart in the last 30 minutes as the two rush through life, pushing their concerns for the Earth aside as they get on with the business of living. It becomes predictable and leaves one wondering why what was so right could just peter out.

That said, this play deserves to be seen for its acting, directing, and most of the script.

“Lungs” continues through June 10 at Live Theatre Workshop, 3322 E. Fort Lowell Road. Thursday performances are $17, all other performances are $21.

Learn more at livetheatreworkshop.org or call 520-327-4242.