The Harlequin and the Land: Eco-theatre Workshop

Sing and explore with us in nature. Through our devised scores of voice, movement, and text we will reimagine the Harlequin archetype into a contemporary character and part of the natural world.

By embodying nature through the Harlequin we will search for a disruptive anthropomorphism discussing the metamodern approach to theatre that allows us to recall the need to present a deeper, more profound and ethically driven practice in theatre and performance. We will recontextualise the Harlequin for now, going beyond the traditional character and connecting it to wider territories, especially considering how the character has migrated across the world.

As described by Virginie Magnat (2020), the use of the voice requires an imaginative engagement with the environment that necessarily extends the human experience to that of a wider ecosystem. Through investigation of the voice based on character and interaction with the environment, alongside discussions around the work of metatheatre practices today, we will create a group form of eco-opera that searches for ways to de-centre the human through engaging with the collective and transpersonal experiences and stories.

The workshop is also situated in NAHR’s annual theme, Minerals: Scaffolders that Matter. The Harlequin’s role as a servant can also take many changing forms, parallelling the important morphological, and necessary, role of minerals in the composition of our environments and the development of life. It can also be explored as an element of local traditional craft practices (e.g. carpentry or stonemasonry), especially within the regenerative economy.