Metamodern Ecological Ethics in Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs and Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between hope, anxiety, and environmental ethics in the plays *Lungs* (2011) by Duncan Macmillan and The Children (2016) by Lucy Kirkwood. Through an affect-oriented ecocritical reading, the study explores how contemporary British drama represents the environmental crisis—not merely as an external ecological threat, but as an intimate ethical and emotional condition that reshapes private life, domestic space, and human responsibility. The study’s theoretical framework draws upon Timothy Morton’s concept of "hyperobjects," Dipesh Chakrabarty’s perspective on human geological agency, and Lauren Berlant’s concept of "cruel optimism," alongside metamodernist theories that examine the affective oscillation between hope and despair.This paper contributes to contemporary eco-drama studies by demonstrating how these two plays transform domestic and personal crises into spaces for planetary reflection, thereby redefining environmental ethics as an ongoing negotiation between individual desire and collective responsibility in the Anthropocene.