Shakespeare, Ecology and Adaptation

Shakespeare, Ecology and Adaptation: A Practical Guide by Alys Daroy and Paul Prescott (Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2025) is the first book to bring Shakespearean ecocriticism and eco-theatre together.

Focusing on case studies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear and The Tempest, it explores how Shakespeare’s plays can be read, taught, and performed through ecological perspectives.

Combining literary criticism, early modern environmental contexts and performance practice, the book offers practical resources for students, teachers and theatre-makers developing environmentally engaged interpretations and adaptations of Shakespeare.

REVIEW

“Alys Daroy and Paul Prescott’s Shakespeare, Ecology and Adaptation (Bloomsbury, The Arden Shakespeare, 2025), part of the publisher’s Shakespeare and Adaptation series, is a landmark volume that builds from the substantial work in the field of ecocritical Shakespeares over the past two decades, and applies it to the evolving fields of Shakespeare and adaptation, adaptation theory and ecotheatre [...] Daroy and Prescott’s work is a seminal text for the future of the environmental humanities and for adaptation. It will have a significant impact on the intersecting and evolving fields of Shakespeare, ecocriticism and adaptation, and is essential reading for all of us in the Anthropocene."

Citation: Bladen, Victoria. “Alys Daroy and Paul Prescott, Shakespeare, Ecology and Adaptation.” Skenè. Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies 12, no. 1 (2026): 233–240. DOI: 10.13136/78q4y329