| Sumario: | 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, this article proposes that Hadestown should be understood as developing a 'recursive dramaturgy', relating that claim to Mitchell's 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.
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