I was already very familiar with the true story of zoologist Juliane Koepcke, so my interest was piqued when I read the summary of Her Green Hell, created by the emerging theatre company TheatreGoose in their professional debut. Juliane Koepcke became famous at age 17 when she was the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest on Christmas Eve in 2004. Her Green Hell, written and directed by Emma Howlett, with dramaturgy and performance by Sophie Kean, tells Juliane’s story in breathtaking detail.

From the very first second, the audience is hurled into the rainforest with Juliane and is instantly captivated as Kean explodes onto the stage. Howlett’s writing creates powerful and tangible imagery of the airport, the plane, and the jungle right from the first line. Kean speaks with total clarity, building the world and evoking the humid, oppressive rainforest perfectly. She moves throughout the space with the fluidity of the animals Juliane spent her life studying, and establishes Juliane as an exceptionally intelligent, optimistic, and adventurous teen.

I was highly impressed with the technical choices for the show – Howlett’s direction made excellent use of a simple but extremely effective and versatile set (designed by Eleanor Wintour) of a carpeted square of boxes that surrounded three lonely plane seats. The boxes and seat both housed rudimentary but brilliantly chosen props, which were used to great effect to demonstrate the actions of the plane, Juliane, and the animals she encounters in the rainforest. I also thought the lighting (by Edward Saunders) and sound design (by Sarah Spencer) were both excellent. The warm but slightly sickly tone of the rainforest during the day, seeping into the purplish lighting of Juliane’s fitful sleeping state created a chilling change in mood, particularly as Juliane loses her confidence in her survival skills as the jungle takes on a nightmarish quality after the sun sets. Spencer’s quiet but constant undercurrent of the sounds of the rainforest, with the low hum of the planes flying overhead, coupled with the vibrations of the trains from Waterloo rattling overhead was spinetingling.

Kean was an engaging presence throughout the show, but in the second half I felt that there weren’t enough changes in pace and tone, and I started to lose focus as the text took on a poetic quality that was harder to absorb. Some moments in the play felt a little too clinical when I felt that they could’ve been emphasised as being the deadly or devastating instances that they were. I also felt that the text could’ve done more to show Juliane’s exhaustion and delirium towards the end, allowing Kean’s pacing to slow, which would’ve provided a greater contrast to her strength and power when her sheer desperation to live emerges in her darkest hour.

Overall, I found Her Green Hell to be an impressive retelling of a tragic, but fascinating survival story, and an astonishing debut from TheatreGoose. I do not doubt that we’ll be seeing a lot more from them, and I look forward to seeing what they do next.

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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