ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the body's material encounters with the external world. Informed by new materialist concepts, it demonstrates that in-person political interactions provide opportunities for sustained perceptual engagement with the non-human external environment, and that these opportunities are significantly diminished in digitally mediated interactions. The chapter argues that creative activities that highlight the agency of the non-human, external environment provide a pathway for reconsiderations of individual subjectivity and inter-relational interdependence. Puppetry is an especially useful practice in this regard, as a tactile and kinaesthetic practice that gives rise to trans-corporeal perception and an awareness of object agency. Voice and Applied Theatre activities are also examined for their potential to raise this awareness, especially when situated as a means of exploring sensitive political issues. The chapter concludes with an argument that theatrical practices of this nature can inspire new understandings of the relationship between the self, the environment and the objects and people that populate that environment.
