Turbulent Ecodramaturgy: The Winds of Pericles

Abstract

In encountering Pericles as a written and performed text, we are struck immediately by the intricate currents that wind through the episodic narrative – currents of action and breath-guided dialogue mingling, twining through and above and under and about the fictive breezes of an imagined Mediterranean, as well perhaps as through and around the actual draughts of an open-air venue. We offer our ecodramaturgical reading of the winds of Pericles in the hope that it might likewise suggest the possibilities offered by an awareness of how a play’s aerial currents can affect the liveness of audience experience, the nuances of reception, and the related apprehension of environment – even, or perhaps especially, when it comes to works that are difficult to encounter in performance.