Changing the limelight

London theatre stages first sustainable production

Hydrogen fuel cell powered stage lighting was one of the stars making its debut, along with a raft of other clean green initiatives, when Simple8’s production of The Living Unknown Soldier opened earlier this year at a London studio theatre.

A spokesman for the company said: “We just want to do what we can to contribute, in the hope that others can learn from our mistakes and, with a bit of luck, from our successes.” In this case “doing what they could” included sourcing recycled wood for the set, implementing a zero waste to landfill policy, using recycled paper for the programme – and encouraging the cast to cycle to rehearsals. To create a blueprint for theatres and theatre companies to follow in the future, Global Action Plan agreed to audit the production, which was staged at the Arcola theatre – already a signatory of the ‘Greening London Theatre’ initiative [GF67, ‘Going green by stages’]. Bash Creations, the UK’s only eco-entertainment company, provided the entertainment and management services for a Green Gala Night in celebration of the opening.

The theme of the play, though, has nothing to do with sustainability (it’s a bleak tale of a Great War veteran suffering from amnesia who ends up in a mental asylum). In fact, there’s a striking lack of new writing about climate change and sustainability. Could this down to the Arts Council of England’s funding assessment criteria? These don’t currently factor in anything on green issues, preferring to focus on increasing participation in the arts for disadvantaged and underrepresented groups. The body told us it could not reveal whether changing this stance was discussed as an option for the new funding criteria it is due to announce this summer. Since communicating values and inspiring people to change behaviour is where theatre holds its power, perhaps the Arts Council could achieve more by funding green creative development and not just green housekeeping… – Claire Wyatt

24 March 2008

Claire Wyatt