This one-day symposium will bring together researchers, practitioners and students for a discursive investigation of performance approaches that explore the human relationship with the natural world. The recent Readings in Performance and Ecology (2012) and Performing Nature (2007) acknowledge that ‘conventional theatre’ may not be as well positioned to intersect with ecology as other forms of performance. Other paradigms such as eco-activism, bicycle performances, outdoor audio-walks, landscape performances, allotment performances, live art and site-based participatory performance offer unique opportunities for audiences to intimately engage with the living world and interact directly with the material environment. Recent examples of practice include Simon Whitehead’s work, Townley and Bradby’s The Bowthrope Experiment, Earthrise Repair Shop, Platform’s Oil City, the work of Fevered Sleep and FanSHEN’s Green and Pleasant Land. This symposium will assemble key people in the field of Performance and Ecology to explore how new paradigms can be developed from a number of different perspectives and expertise on the subject.

Hosted by the Theatre Applied Research Centre, confirmed participants include Wallace Heim, FanSHEN, Julie’s Bicycle, Sally Mackey, Ian Garrett, Harry Giles, Stephen Bottoms, Dee Heddon, Carl Lavery, Dead Good Guides, Peter Coates, Silvia Battista, Eve Katsouraki, Gareth Somers, Sarah Hopfinger, and Baz Kershaw.

Lunch will be provided along with tea and coffee.

Book Now: New Perspectives on Ecological Performance Making Tickets, London – Eventbrite.