An Ecology of Plants: The Post-Manufacturing Age in Philip Ridley’s Shivered and David Eldridge’s In Basildon

Abstract

Abstract The article argues that the so-called Capitalocene, proposed by Jason W. Moore, augments Anthropocenic reasoning by addressing the systemic and ideological shortcomings threatening the very basics of human existence that hitherto have so often been neglected or simply missed by “Green Arithmetic” and a naive belief in technology. The readings of Philip Ridley’s Shivered (2012) and David Eldridge’s In Basildon (2012) illustrate that the Capitalocene and its attempts at understanding the ecological and social consequences of global capitalism offer an exciting new lens for the analysis of contemporary political drama, especially with regard to the ecology of industrial plants in the post-manufacturing age.