It’s a noble thing for a company to want to create work tackling the subject of climate change. And it’s all too understandable that such work would be fraught with panic, fear and rage. The issues surrounding our abuse of the planet are potent and terrifying, with no solution in sight. So you can sympathise with dance and performance-art company Vertebra in their intention to create a piece that conveys urgency and the need to act now. 

Imagery of doom reverberates throughout An Ice Thing to Say, be it a dancer trapped in clingfilm and trying to prise their way out, performers yelling in Spanish and English at the same time about emergency exits, a passage of wild raving, or a satirical invitation to an audience member to have an Instagram-style photo with a polar bear. There is real angst here about what humans are doing to this world, and the impending end of what is sometimes referred to as the Anthropocene age.

But it’s all put across in ways that are both disjointed and undercooked, either saying things we already know, or that are too obscure to interpret. The final, feral image of two women smearing what looks like liver onto their faces, and tearing apart the polar bear, has potential for real terror. But its bleak apocalyptic vision comes too late to save a production that needs clearer dramaturgy in exploring its themes. 

An Ice Thing To Say, Greenside @ Nicolson Square, until 26 August, 7.35pm.