Research Detail - Environment on Stage

The driving question: Is there any evidence to suggest that (theatre practitioners are proactively and coherently leveraging the possibility that) the theatre can help bring about a shift to a new environment-aware way of life, and, if so, where is it working and what could be done for greater efficacy? Early chapters explore the two cultures divide, the state of play in ecocriticism on stage, and aspects of audience reception research.

Topical Publication

'"If you want to be green hold your breath": Climate Change in British Theatre', NTQ 111, 2012.

Crossing the Eighth Wall

The environment appears to be mostly invisible on stage. Even though ecocritical readings are open to the audience at any moment, they do not often appear in reviews. In my ecotheatre blog, I respond to plays I have seen through an ecocritical lens. This work is an important part of my research, because it will help me to build an archive of ecotheatre, and ecotheatrical moments in seemingly non-ecological theatre. I refer to this work as Crossing the Eighth Wall in reference to the cultural divides that seem to stand in the way of connecting everything to everything else (including the environment) on stage.

Warwick Ecotheatre Blog