The burgeoning crisis in the ecology has motivated theatre scholars and practitioners over the last three decades to significantly respond to it through their works, which may be seen to have proliferated from Una Chaudhuri's (1994) pioneering call for theatre to ‘play a role’ in creating a profound ‘transvaluation’ required to address the crisis (p. 25). Erika Munk's essay ‘A Beginning and End’ (1994) also highlighted the need for theatre scholarship to combine historical and ecological perspectives – ‘a vast open field with histories to be rewritten, styles to rediscuss, contexts to reperceive’ (p. 5). Theresa J. May's book Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theater appropriates both these calls by engaging with a critical discourse on ecological theatre, which she calls ‘ecodramaturgy’.
As there has been no major focus on American theatre history through an ecological lens apart from Downing Cless's essay ‘Eco-theatre, USA: The Grassroots Is Greener’ (1996), Earth Matters stands to be the first and only of its kind, signposting the necessity for such inclusive and exhaustive study in other cultural contexts. Divided into seven chapters, an Introduction, and an Epilogue, the book delves deep into the cultural history of America relating to its treatment of ecology and environment through theatre practice.
With references to both canonical and non-canonical plays, the book elaborates how American theatre has historically recorded the moments of injustice to the environment and contributed to the growth of environmentalism in the United States. Beginning with the narratives of violence incurred towards ecology in the process of frontier expansion, civilization and settler colonialism in America (Chapters 1 and 2), the book elaborates how the ‘theft of indigenous land by early settlers, the irreparable harm to land and ecosystems, and the human health impact of extractive industries’ (p. 206) continue to be represented throughout the history of American theatre (Chapter 7). The technological boom in the early twentieth century influenced the understanding of ecology and ecological relationships in economic terms, where nature was considered ‘an organic machine’ for the purpose of ‘industrial production’ (p. 90). The rise of industrial extractive capitalism with its commodification of land and promotion of unsustainable farming practices such as the use of pesticides resulted in damaging both the land and the families or communities associated with it (Chapters 3, 4 and 6). The devastating impacts of toxic farming on land and the human body are also suggestive of their reciprocal sharing of environmental and economic injustices (Chapter 6). As the environmental movement in America in the 1960s and 1970s was increasingly identifying itself with social-injustice movements relating to race, gender and economy, the impacts of environmental degradation on women, children, workers and communities of colour became more apparent (Chapter 5). The violence incurred towards women in the process of American nation building (Chapter 2) and the impacts of climate change on women's health and welfare (Chapters 6 and 7) evocatively put forward the discourse of ecofeminist theatre criticism. The white-male-dominated socio-economic-political policies have contributed to developing an environmental imperialist identity of America, which is also held responsible for the catastrophic crisis in the climate (Chapter 7). Through the narratives of climate crisis felt in the regional and indigenous communities inclusive of humans and more-than-humans, climate change theatre in America in the twenty-first century has represented a global narrative (Chapter 7).
The book's significance lies not in elaborating the ecological dialogues found in the prominent ecological plays, but in highlighting the otherwise hidden ecological idioms in both canonical and non-canonical plays in American theatre. May here provides a critical lens for theatre studies, which she terms ‘ecodramaturgy’, to empower one with a science to point out the otherwise overlooked or missed ecological–environmental potentials of a play. The book indeed becomes a handbook of how to take an ecodramaturgical approach to theatre praxis and criticism by using theatre as a ‘methodology’ to engage with environmental issues and as a ‘medium’ to create material–ecological footprints. Advocating the role of theatre for social change, May in her book Earth Matters establishes the potential of ecotheatre ‘to save lives, prevent suffering, heal destruction, reclaim works, and transform what it means to be a human animal in a diverse ecological community’ (p. 4).
