Sustainability in Theatre

SUSTAINABILITY IN THEATRE IMPACT 46

Daisy discusses the theatre industry’s need to implement sustainable approaches and explores enviromentally friendly stages from across the globe and here in Nottingham.

For a rather progressive form of art that has historically presented some of the most ground-breaking ideas, the mainstream theatre industry is surprisingly sedate in its attempts to be more sustainable . Whether it’s sourcing costumes from unethical retailers or causing emissions with the transportation of touring productions, theatre is making a contribution to global warming that can no longer be overlooked. Although creating theatre on a budget may not always make sustainability easy, Nottingham-based theatre company Chronic Insanity tells Impact how going green has been beneficial to their work.

“The mainstream theatre industry is surprisingly sedate in its attempts to be more sustainable”

The conversation about creating more sustainable theatre has snowballed in recent years. With designer Tanja Beer boasting credits at the Sydney Opera House and branching out to some of the most significant venues across the globe, her work is sending ripples through the theatre world. Despite designing for highly acclaimed productions, Beer continues to abide by her principles of ‘ecoscenography’ and advocates the innovation of new ways to make her occupation sustainable.

Beer’s blog describes ‘The Living Stage’ as a “living, breathing, edible stage” that travels around the globe and is constructed entirely of plants and biodegradable material. Whilst technological pioneers make advances that centralise the theatre sector in discussions about environmentalism, the invention of ‘The Living Stage’ breaks sustainable theatre (quite literally) down to its roots and creates productions that are not only carbon neutral but that actively nurture the environment. This is a prime example of how making theatre more environmentally friendly can act as a creative supplement rather than a hinderance.

But sustainable theatre is not only an unfamiliar practice that happens miles from home; Nottingham’s independent theatre company Chronic Insanity was founded by Nat Henderson and Joe Strickland in April 2019. Whilst hoping to complete twelve shows in twelve months, Chronic Insanity’s fundamental objective is to ‘challenge every aspect of the theatre making process’.

By rethinking theatre spaces in order to reduce carbon footprint, Henderson and Strickland believe that making their practice more sustainable has become ‘the catalyst for more inventive and exciting work’. Admitting that their recent launch and smaller scale shows make sustainability more manageable, Strickland points out that ‘one of the biggest uses of energy in a theatre production is the travel of its audience’. For this reason, Chronic Insanity concentrate their promotion in local communities and use 360 video technology to broadcast their work further afield.

By scouring second-hand shops for props and costumes, as well as making their shows completely paper-free, Henderson and Strickland exemplify changes that could be easily implemented and are even economical for larger scale companies.

French author Andre Maurois professed that ‘Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more humane world’. “Perhaps it is time for theatre-makers to blaze the path towards greater change throughout the creative industries” Daisy Forster Illustration & Page Design by Kajal Bains