Below are productions, listed alphabetically by play, that were heavily adapted to speak to ecological issues. If you know of more, please email us at earthshakesalliance@gmail.com !
All's Well
All’s Well That Ends Well: OrangeMite Theatre (Pennsylvania, USA), 2022: set the play at summer camp, where campers learn from an enthusiastic park ranger who shares The Ornithology of Shakespeare throughout the play. The young protagonists discover how to strengthen relationships with one another and the natural world. Dir. William Wolfgang and Angel Nuñez.
As You Like It
As You Like It: Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (UK), 2018: contrasts a corporate court with an Arden where exiles turn oil drums into planters and work to green their environment. Dir. Max Webster.
As You Like It: Shakespeare in Yosemite, 2019: characters hung science about the Sierra Nevada forest, wildfire, and climate adaptation to trees near the venue along with Orlando’s poems, and the final dance was a climate march. Dir. Katherine Steele Brokaw and Paul Prescott (email kbrokaw@ucmerced.edu for essays about this production).
As You Like It: Watermill Playhouse (UK), 2021: a court filled with oil drums and construction detritus contrasts the lush forest surrounding the site, which doubles as Arden. During an epilogue on climate and sustainability, actors bring on placards with environmental messages before singing “Set My Soul on Fire.” Dir. Paul Hart.
Coriolanus: Shakespeare in the Woods (Vermont, USA), 2022: asked ‘How do we put an end to man's insatiable hunger - for sustenance, resources, power? Is overconsumption a man’s problem?’ and was staged through the lens of asylum seeking refugees in a present day immigration center. It made clear connections between food insecurity and eco-crises. Dir. Elizabeth Dinkova.
Cymbeline
All of the below productions are part of the Cymbeline in the Anthropocene project, which brought together theatres from around the world to stage or film ecologically adapted Cymbelines in 2021, and hosted a symposium in 2022. Project directed by Randall Martin.
● Cornell University Theatre Department (New York, USA): video adaptation titled Once Upon a Time in the Anthropocene. Dir. Theo Black.
● Exeter University (UK): two short adaptations, Gold and Silver Turned to Dust explores corporate land grabs, and Does the World Go Round, on human greed. Dir. Eveyln O'Malley.
● LaTrobe University (Australia): transformed the play’s war into a bushfire. Dir. Rob Conkie.
● Montana Shakespeare in the Park, full production here,: performed against a backdrop of mountains and wildfires across Montana, in an ecologically-conscious touring production. Dir. Kevin Asselin. (See Minton, Gretchen and Mikey Gray (2022) “The Ecological Journey of Imogen in Montana’s Parks.” New Theatre Quarterly 38 (4): 299-318.)
● Setebos Theatre Company (Argentina), full production here: retitled Cimbelino en la Patagonia and adapted to draw on Indigenous South American mythology. Dir. Mónica Maffía.
● Shakespeare in Yosemite: retitled Imogen in the Wild and filmed on location in Yosemite, film here: highlights links between land abuse and misogyny. Dir. Katherine Steele Brokaw, Paul Prescott, and Billy Wolfgang (email kbrokaw@ucmerced.edu for an essay about this film).
● Willow Globe (Wales), full production here: set in their open-air replica of the Globe made out of willow. Dir. Sue Best and Phil Bowen.
Love's Labor's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost: Michigan State University, 2008: a documented green production, staged as a case study for creating greener theatre (see Miller, Justin A. (2012) ‘The Labor of Greening Love’s Labour’s Lost’, in Wendy Arons and Theresa J. May (eds.), Readings in Performance and Ecology, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 201–10.)
Love's Labor's Lost: Shakespeare in Yosemite, 2022: set in 1969 and 1970 and commemorating the youth-led environmental movements that lead to the first Earth Day and American environmental legislation, with the male and female groups as bands on songwriting retreat in Yosemite. Dir. Paul Prescott and Katherine Steele Brokaw (email kbrokaw@ucmerced.edu for an essay about this production).
Macbeth
Macbeth: Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, 2017: highlighted the importance of public lands and was set in a post-apocalyptic period following a global collapse brought on by climate change. It sought to draw links between tyranny in kingdoms and ecosystems. Dir. Kevin Asselin. (see Minton, Gretchen (2018) ‘“The Season of All Natures”: Montana Shakespeare in the Park’s Global Warming Macbeth’. Shakespeare Bulletin 36 (3): 428–48).
Macbeth: National Theatre of Great Britain, 2018: set in a near-future apocalypse, the set was partially composed of black garbage bags, and the play’s violence was clearly tied to a need to scavenge for scarce resources. Dir. Rupert Norris.
Macbeth: Joburg Theatre Youth Development Programme (South Africa), 2022: replaced some dialogue with bird song and performed in several South African languages and vernaculars, indigenizing and decolonizing the text (see Roberts, Sarah (2022) ‘Sounding the Polyphonic Cacophony of Macbeth with a Young Jozi Ensemble’, in Chris Thurman (ed.), Shakespeare in Southern Africa 35: 4-18).
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Nashville Shakespeare Company (USA), 2018: featured fairy costumes made of 100% recycled materials including plastic grocery bags, bottle caps, and thrift store clothing. An on-site seed bomb station encouraged audience members to create seed bombs to beautify forgotten places around the city and photograph the flowers after they bloomed.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Rough Magic (Ireland), 2018: set in a semi-apocalyptic futures, and exploring the recklessness of mankind in the face of a misunderstood ecosystem. Dir. Lynn Parker.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Shakespeare in Yosemite, 2018: highlighted issues of overconsumption and its affect on the natural world. Dir. Katherine Steele Brokaw and Paul Prescott ((email kbrokaw@ucmerced.edu for an essay about this production).
Ein Sommernachtstraum: Burgtheatre (Austria), 2020: explored the play in the context of climate catastrophes, patriarchal systems that rule again genderfluidity, and the way theatre is a form of hope. Dir. Barbara Frey.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Butterfly Theatre (UK), 2022: staged in two different caverns in the UK, highlighting the play’s darkness and the ecosystems of caves.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, 2022: touring production that highlighted ecological themes, and indigenized the fairy costumes with California flora and fauna. Dir. Sydney Schwindt.
Midsummer Yosemite's Dream: Shakespeare in Yosemite, 2024: begins in 1934 and moves to 2024, exploring the legacy of environmental choices and wildfire destruction of the giant sequoia trees. Dir. Katherine Steele Brokaw and Tonaitiuh Newbold. (See Freestone, Elizabeth (2024) ‘A Midsummer Yosemite’s Dream.’ Shakespeare Bulletin 42 (3): 418–22. and Werth, Tiffany (2024) ‘Eco-Joy in A Midsummer Yosemite’s Dream.’ Oecologies Blog).
Pericles
Pericles: Shakespeare in Napa, 2016: explored global issues of sex trafficking, the media and the effects of global warming.
The Tempest
The Tempest: Shakespeare in Paradise, 2009 (Bahamas): turned Prospero into a former CEO and spoke to Bahamians’ colonial past and environmental present.
A Nigerian Eco-Tempest: Oguta Island: Montana InSite Theatre, 2020: a short film called A Nigerian Eco-Tempest: Oguta Island explores the human and environmental damages of colonialism, and reimagines Caliban as a figure with the full knowledge of African history and resistance to colonialism. Written by Nnamdi Kagana.
The Wilds: Amazon Prime, 2020: the TV series The Wilds adapts The Tempest to be an all-female group of teenage castaways who are surviving with a social scientists modelled on Prospero (see Wald, Christina (2022) ‘Shakespeare in The Wilds: Experimenting with The Tempest,’ Adaptation 15 (2): 264–284).
The Tempest: Royal Shakespeare Company, 2023: highlights ocean trash and island communities on the frontlines of climate change, with Alex Kingston's delivery of Prospero's "revels" speech reflecting on climate change. All design elements were recycled and/or were reused after the show. Dir. Elizabeth Freestone.
Toss Me A Tempest: Illinois Shakespeare Festival, 2023: theatre for young audience’s show Toss Me a Tempest adapted the play to be about Caliban and Ariel teaching Prospero how to live in balance, and converting the island into a nature camp for children at the end of the show. Written by Nancy Steele Brokaw. Dir. Lori Adams.
The Tempest: Shakespeare in the Woods (Vermont), 2023: focused on dynamics between Prospero and Caliban and Ariel, recognizing the act of land seizure that has occurred and its effect on the ecosystem and encouraging audiences to think about the colonial history of New England. Dir. Roberto Di Donato
Timon of Athens
Timon of Athens: Montana InSite Theatre, 2019: in the adaptation Timon of Anaconda, the action of the play is moved to the mining town Butte, which is now one of the USA’s largest superfund sites. Adapted by Gretchen Minton (see Minton blog post here).
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night: Shakespeare South (Australia), 2022: performed in a botanic garden and encouraging ‘biophelia’ in its audiences, and carbon offset with biodiversity restoration programs. Dir. Britt Plummer and Jess Clough-McCrae
