ABSTRACT
In the context of natural disasters, humans are likely to be intensely aware of their embeddedness in earthly ecologies. Fires, explosions, famine, floods, storms and other apocalyptic events appear regularly as powerful metaphors in the arts. Theatrical events in which the environmental shapeshifter takes such forms may have the power to change the mental landscape of any of those involved, forging new relationships between human beings and the environment in which they are enmeshed. Such theatre draws on long-running threads of memory, and memory is, after all, nothing more than a flow of energy, matter and ideas. A 1987 Brith Gof production opens this chapter, which goes on to consider the regular appearances of Waiting for Godot in the aftermath of disasters, new theatre prompted by flood (especially around the focal point of Hull between 2007 and 2017), and new writing as a response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the long-running climate change story. The increasing number of climate change plays identifies global warming as a rich, active site of new work. This chapter is circular, or perhaps spiral: Brith Gof sets the stage, and the ghost of Brith Gof closes the chapter, with Brookes’ still-developing series, The Storm Cycle.
