Eco-friendly Theatre
Take a look at the article by Scottish theatre journalist Mark Fisher in the Guardian. Dealing with the impact theatres have on the environment, he works out that the business does pretty well but could do more.
During the Christmas period I directed a touring panto which, for a couple of weeks, had three shows a day in all parts of the North East. There was one day when we did a gig in Sunderland, then travelled down to Middlesbrough (a van and a car), and then back to Sunderland for the evening gig, just three quarters of a mile from the morning’s venue. That was a bit extreme, but every day saw the company dotting around the region pumping out the CO2 like nobody’s business. I hate to think how many times that little convoy went up and down the A1 and the A19 day after day for the run of the tour.
What can you do? If a venue wants the show at a particular time on a particular day, you can hardly say no and expect to keep the gig. No matter how eco-friendly we may want to be, sometimes the nature of the business militates against it.
February 8th, 2007 at 10:50 am
But if the audience had to travel to see you rather than you going to them… Much more pollution
February 8th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Very true.
And therein lies the problem. Modern life cannot be anything other than polluting, so it’s just a case of minimising the effect we have. We are just too dependent on fossil fuels so individuals and even the entire theatre industry can only make a tiny impact on reducing CO2 levels.
April 20th, 2008 at 01:56 am
I know this is an old post, but I have to stick my American nose in: “we are just too dependent on fossil fuels so individuals and even the entire theatre industry can only make a tiny impact on reducing CO2 levels.” That’s nonsense. Is there some sort of mandate of which I am unaware that dictates that we remain dependent on these ecologically destructive habits? I say no, we can make a difference, and we can change the way to produce theater without comprising our art.