Things are bad right now.

Everyone is making a decision this weekend. Their choices are optimism or pessimism. The current state of affairs would have you believe that latter is the safest answer. Can’t be disappointed if you don’t have expectations, right?

So it’s fitting that, three days before the New Zealand General Election, I find myself at The Solarpunk Archives, a show that demonstrates what would happen if things got better. A show that asks ‘what would happen if we all chose optimism?’

Our host, CB, lays the groundwork. We are an intergalactic audience attending a lecture on the greatest age of humanity; the Solarpunk Era. Throughout the show, the performers will introduce various archives themed around small aspects of what life was like in this wonderful time. Then, scenes are performed, framed as footage excavated from humanity’s history.

There’s a relentless optimism in every scene. Every time a conflict brews, it is solved by characters building upon each other instead of tearing each other down. In keeping theme with the rest of the New Zealand Improv Festival, it feels like a wave of positive-focused direction is sweeping the week.

The cast is extraordinarily talented, all fitting together like perfectly molded cogs. Matt Powell and Hannah Taylor captivate the audience in a scene where they lie down and simply discuss the beauty of solitude amongst the clouds. Ciarán Searle and Gabby Anderson attempt to describe the colour green, an impossible task but one tackled with joy and vigour. Daniel Kirkby and Liz Talbot flawlessly portray the evolution of a typical relationship for the Solarpunk Era, expanding on canon established by the archivists. Jason Geary keeps the audience in stitches with incisive gags about the deliciousness of potatoes, while Rik Brown opposite him stays stone-faced and demands more from his son. Daniel Allen’s incredibly funny voices are peppered throughout the scenes, providing the perfect amount of levity without ever stepping on the toes of his fellow performers.

For an improv show, the cast is huge, and yet the stage never feels crowded. It’s only once you reach the end and they’re all lining up that it really hits you how many people you’ve just seen perform.

It’s a testament to CB’s direction that they’re able to to sit to the side as the show unfolds, with minimal interactions between the cast and themself. Everybody here knows what they’re doing, and what the goal is. CB accomplishes their mission and more.

In a world that often feels like it’s heading to a dystopian future, we need works like The Solarpunk Archives to remind us that a better world is waiting for us if we put in the effort to find it. What starts out as an exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding ends in a powerful message that we can still build a world that allows humanity to interact with nature in a way that’s sustainable and inspiring.

The Solarpunk Archives is a delightful glimpse into a future we want and presents a gift that we can choose to accept or not.

I choose optimism.

Disclosure: As a somewhat active member of the Wellington improv community, I am quite familiar with some of the performers in this show.
Having said that, I am not a liar, and there is zero bias in my reviews, shut up.