4.5 out of 5 stars

The incremental, interminable rounds of climate-change conferences that produced the inconclusive Kyoto Protocols shouldn't work as theater, but “Kyoto” is funny, disturbing and profound. Playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson are admirably faithful to the sometimes-bizarre facts, clear-eyed about the players' various self-interested positions, and savvy about gritty procedural details -- deploying them not only to ridicule but illuminate. Embodying the see-all-sides approach, the play's sympathetic narrator emerges as its villain (Stephen Kunken, terrific) and gradually trades places at the drama's center with an unappreciated hero (Jorge Bosch, same). The entire cast crackles under the direction of Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin. — Adam Z. Horvath

At Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, through Nov. 30; lct.org. (Review date: Nov. 25, 2025)