‘To Know How It Ends/And Still Begin to Sing It Again’: Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, the climate crisis, and recursive ecodramaturgies

Lonergan, Patrick. (2025). ‘To Know How It Ends/And Still Begin to Sing It Again’: Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, the Climate Crisis, and Recursive Ecodramaturgies. Green Letters, 29(3), 294-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/14688417.2025.2571106

Abstract

Hadestown is a musical play that is preoccupied with the importance of cycles, both in life and in art. That characteristic is evident musically, theatrically, thematically and dramaturgically – as is shown in such examples as the repetition of musical motifs and lyrical phrases in the score, the use of a revolving stage in the original production (as directed by Rachel Chavkin, and designed by Rachel Hauck), the adaptation by Mitchell of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the use of theatrical form to allow audiences to reconceptualise their understanding of time. Drawing on Elizabeth M. DeLoughrey’s work on allegories of the Anthropocene (2019), this article proposes that Hadestown should be understood as developing a “recursive dramaturgy”, relating that claim to Mitchell’s often-stated intention of using Hadestown to think about the climate crisis – and to locate that crisis in a system of destructive human activities that includes capitalism, industrialisation, racism, and patriarchy. Mitchell’s approach to theatre-making thus offers a powerful new way of thinking about making art, defining ways for her audiences to “begin to sing again” at a time when once-predictable cycles have been disrupted, and perhaps even permanently destroyed.

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Taylor and Francis Group
Routledge

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CC BY-NC-ND

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