Sounding the Arctic in Chantal Bilodeau’s Climate Change Plays

Authors

  • Nassim W. Balestrini University of Graz

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v32i1.120408

Keywords:

Climate change, Soundscape, Sonic cultures, Arctic, Inuit, Canada, Norway, Interdependence, Relationality, Theory and practice

Abstract

Quebec-born playwright Chantal Bilodeau has been responding to the challenges of dramatizing anthropogenic climate change by developing an eight-part Arctic Cycle, each play of which is set in one of the nations that claims Arctic territory. Sila (2014) immerses audiences into a complex network of humans, animals, and mythical beings crisscrossing the Canadian Arctic. These movements circle around the Inuit concept of sila, which is the life-giving force of breath and voice. Thus, the sonic world of Sila focuses on voices speaking words, on performance poetry, and on the sounds of breath and wind. Bilodeau’ s second Arctic Cycle play, Forward (2016), addresses the long-term impact of Fridtjof Nansen’s polar exploration of the 1890s on Norway’s economy and society. In terms of sound, Forward features multiple musical performances ranging
from traditional songs to European opera arias and Lieder to contemporary Norwegian electro-pop. The sonic features of both plays stress interdependence across time, space, as well as (non-)human, earthly, and metaphysical realms. Sila and Forward address climate change in a non-universalizing manner which promotes a heterarchical (rather than hierarchical) aesthetic fit for a growing awareness of planetary relationality.

Author Biography

Nassim W. Balestrini, University of Graz

Nassim W. Balestrini is Professor of American Studies and Intermediality at the University of Graz, Austria, and Director of the Centre for Intermediality Studies in Graz (CIMIG). Before moving to Austria, she taught at the universities of Mainz, Paderborn, and Regensburg in Germany and at the University of California, Davis. Her research interests include American literature and culture, adaptation and intermedial relations, life writing across media, hip-hop culture, climate change drama, US-American and Canadian theater and performance, African American literature and culture, and the poet laureate traditions in the United States and in Canada.

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Published

2020-05-31

How to Cite

Balestrini, N. W. (2020). Sounding the Arctic in Chantal Bilodeau’s Climate Change Plays. Nordic Theatre Studies, 32(1), 66–81. https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v32i1.120408

Issue

Vol. 32 No. 1 (2020): Theatre and the Anthropocene

Section

Articles thematic section

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