@article{ART003381639},
author={Eunha Na},
title={Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis},
journal={Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University},
issn={1598-3021},
year={2026},
volume={83},
number={3},
pages={97-122}
TY - JOUR
AU - Eunha Na
TI - Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis
JO - Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
PY - 2026
VL - 83
IS - 3
PB - Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
SP - 97
EP - 122
SN - 1598-3021
AB - This article examines Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children (2016) as a realist drama that stages climate crisis not by abandoning theatrical convention but by reworking it from within. Against ecotheatre’s frequent suspicion of natur alism and the humancentered stage, it argues that Kirkwood’s domestic realism makes ecological catastrophe perceptible through ordinary space, objects, bodies, and conflict. Set after a nuclear disaster inspired by Fukushima, the play confines environmental violence to a tilted cottage, everyday routines, and the strained reunion of three retired scientists. In this setting, the house ceases to be a secure human interior and becomes an ecological oikos penetrated by radiation, erosion, water, aging bodies, and intergenerational debt. By tracing how realism makes slow violence perceptible through ordinary spaces, bodies, and relationships, the article reconsiders the ecological potential of theatrical realism and imagines the theatre not as a closed house but as an open garden for ecological attention and responsibility.
KW - Lucy Kirkwood;The Children;Theatrical Realism;Ecocriticism; Climate Crisis;Ecotheatre
DO -
UR -
ER -
Eunha Na. (2026). Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 83(3), 97-122.
Eunha Na. 2026, "Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis", Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, vol.83, no.3 pp.97-122.
Eunha Na "Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83.3 pp.97-122 (2026) : 97.
Eunha Na. Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis. 2026; 83(3), 97-122.
Eunha Na. "Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83, no.3 (2026) : 97-122.
Eunha Na. Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 83(3), 97-122.
Eunha Na. Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University. 2026; 83(3) 97-122.
Eunha Na. Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis. 2026; 83(3), 97-122.
Eunha Na. "Realist Drama and Ecological Imagination: Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children and the Staging of Climate Crisis" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 83, no.3 (2026) : 97-122.
