ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between ecotheatre, environmental theatre and site-specific theatre. Environmental theatre as defined by Schechner and Aronson, and site-specific theatre as defined by Pearson seem at first sight to be the opposite of ecotheatre. However, in an ecosystemic world in which everything is ambiguous by dint of being connected to everything else, it is important to recognise that they are two sides of the same coin (cf. Morton, discussed in the Introduction.). This point is reinforced by the unlikely interconnections made in this chapter. Kershaw’s Meadow Meanders, Brith Gof’s early 1990s ecotheatrical site-specific productions, Stan’s Cafe’s Rice Show and Gormley’s Another Place turn out to be connected by the capacity of Bennett’s ‘vibrant matter’ to speak for itself in the surprising ways. Overall, this chapter suggests that a frugal mode of performance and storytelling, preferably cut off from contemporary energy- and resource-intensive infrastructures and cultures, is needed for two reasons: to facilitate a more ‘ethical and responsible’ (Kershaw) mode of performance with earth’s ecologies and, indeed, to head off ironic environmental stage invasions in site-specific eco-productions.
