‘who the f–k is shakespeare?’ (WTFIS) exceeds the Theatre Green Book targets!

This is how we did it.

 

What is the Theatre Green book?

We’re living in a climate crisis! 

As a company we’re committed to taking action that reduces carbon emissions and biodiversity damage, therefore we’re passionate about following the Theatre Green Book.

It provides freelancers, theatres, producers and companies with a clear, shared and standardised path towards sustainability. 

Costume and set design were big areas in which we have been able to surpass our Theatre Greenbook targets during the production of WTFIS. 

 

How did we achieve our target?

Communication and Planning: 

Several sustainability meetings were scheduled from the initial planning stages to the end of the production process.

This involved several members of the wider creative team coming together to create sustainability goals for the production. 

 

Reuse and Recycle: Previous life 

In a truly sustainable show everything will have had a previous life and be reusable in the future. This is what we tried to keep in mind when designing the set and costumes for this show. 

 

Goals exceeded!

• We aimed to hit the Green Book’s baseline goal of 50% of the set and scenery having had a previous life but surpassed our target hitting 77%.
• We aimed to hit the baseline goal of 20% of the costume having had a previous life. However we are proud to have exceeded our targets by hitting 77% .
• The majority of costume pieces were sourced sustainably from The Liverpool Everyman and The Royal Court Theatre Liverpool’s costume and prop department.
• Some of the pieces of set were sourced from Liverpool Epstein Theatre and The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA)as well as local charity shops.

 

Reuse and Recycle: Afterlife

During the planning, designing and budgeting stage we also kept in mind what the afterlife of the materials used would be . 

Targets smashed!

• We had the targets of 70% of the set and scenery and 60% of the costume having an afterlife for but we truly smashed our targets as 100% of WTFIS’s set and scenery and costume have an afterlife!
•  We’re excited to re-use the chairs collated for the production of ‘WTFIS’ as part of the set as we tour the show this Autumn to schools and venues. At the end of the tour they will be passed onto charity shops or other arts organisations creating a circular economy.

 

Looking ahead.

As we work towards our big goal of reaching the Theatre Green Book‘s advanced standard we hope to : 

• Encourage venues to adopt similar practices and share local knowledge that may support the production being recreated sustainably.
• Continue hitting and or exceeding the Theatre Green Book’s targets for the different elements of production. 
• Continue to explore the ways in which shows can be produced sustainably from the initial concept stages to the end of the production during green concept meetings. 
• Continue to assess what individuals found worked and what didn’t work for them, what targets were hit and missed and how things can be improved upon next time during review meetings. 
• Complete more carbon literacy training.