Eco-theatre as Green Solutions: Some Insights and Observations on Sila

Abstract

The escalating global climate crisis has catalyzed extensive interdisciplinary discourse, reinforcing the urgent necessity for civil society to safeguard collapsing ecological systems. While policy interventions and scientific innovations have shifted toward proactive action, the transition from viewing Nature as an exploitable resource to a site of preservation requires a profound cultural and psychological shift. This paper argues that the arts and humanities, specifically theatre, through its eco-practice, have the potential to foster a collective and urgent eco-sensibility, as theatre envisions the lived experiences of ecological destruction, given its art form allows for a mimesis like no other form can emulate.

Through a detailed exposition of Chantal Bilodeau’s play Sila, the study examines the intersection of ecosophical dramaturgy and “eco-realism”—a framework expressed creatively and performed materially to prioritize the synchronism of all the sentient beings. Deviating from traditional contentions that humanist drama is inherently anti-ecological, this research suggests that humanist and ecological concerns exist in inevitable congruence. By dismantling the Nature vs. Culture binary, the paper reveals how modern drama serves as a vital medium for experiencing the interconnectedness of a fractured global ecosystem.