Abstract
Stanislavksi’s instruction that the actor ‘take their place’ within the theatre invites deeper consideration of performer relationships to the Anthropocene environment on, and beyond, stage. The actor’s embodied alignment with props, set, stage and cast impresses its mark upon the performance environment. Similarly, stage, properties and site affect the actor’s performance in circular exchange. Stanislavski’s attention to living, organic and inert materialities hence offers a unique lens through which to view ecodramaturgical forms and methods to increase human-environment connection in the current era of ecological crisis. Currently, however, despite eco-performance’s extensive discussions of place-based theatre and modes, none substantially investigate an expressly Stanislavskian ecodramaturgical mode. This paper thus argues for Method-based eco-performance, arguing that reflexive situatedness lies at the heart of ecodramaturgical futures. Discussion draws on ecological cognition and performance ecology, offering ecodramaturgical tools based on a deep awareness of, and relationship to, place. It begins with an overview of key Stanislavskian performance techniques in relation to embodied cognition and place-based ecodramaturgy. It then distils a ‘toolkit’ for enhancing the performer-environment relationship based on wider research into psychophysiological studies of human-nature connectedness. These are applied to two eco-theatrical case studies from Method actor Giovanni Enrico’s Climate Change Theatre Action 2023. Techniques therefore focus on practical application for both pedagogy and professional practice. By creating more conscious interactions with the more-than-human world, the paper argues that actors, dramaturgs and theatre makers can enhance the actor-audience-environment relationship for heightened affective performance in the Anthropocene age.