Theorizing ecocide: The theatre of eco-cruelty

This chapter explores the conceptual challenges of representing climate change and the theoretical underpinnings of the Ecocide Project and Carla and Lewis. Chaudhuri and Enelow propose the term “eco-cruelty” to describe the paths of their experiments, which, in contrast to conventional models of ecological theatre, focused on queer ecological intimacy and the lively materiality of the theatre space. Drawing especially from Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty, as well as Timothy Morton’s theories of queer ecology, Lee Edelman’s notion of the queer death drive, and Jane Bennett’s theory of vital materialism, this chapter locates the Ecocide Project within a broader philosophical conversation and rethinks the terms of traditional ecotheatre beyond place-based practices.