Sustainability

My approach to theatre design is inextricable from my belief that any use of materials necessarily has an effect on the environment around us. In the context of theatre, which is by nature ephemeral, this means that I hold myself accountable for way in which materials are treated and used in the short time that they spend contributing to my designs.

Having researched sustainable and then ecological theatre practice during my Theatre Design MA, I strive to use what I learnt to ensure that every decision made puts nature and the environment first; Something that sticks with me is the argument that Tanja Beer discusses in her book, Ecoscenography, that something cannot be considered beautiful if its existence inherently damages ecology and its ecosystem. This outlook shapes my work, and leads to fascinating discoveries and decisions as I strive to create aesthetics that serve the text they are designed for, care for the people involved and make a minimal impact on nature.

I am Carbon Literacy Trained and have signed up to the EcoStage Pledge, both of which help guide me as I design. Coming from an Earth Sciences and Physics background, I love taking knowledge from these disciplines and responding to it creatively in my work, deepening the extent to which I aim to share the stage with nature.

Practically speaking, this involves a high percentage of reuse; collaborating with old materials, adapting sets and costumes to create something new, and challenging every idea against the realities of how it might be realised, while still allowing myself to imagine new and exciting possibilities. Alongside this, I commit to, and if necessary take a lead on, hitting at least Theatre Green Book baseline standard with every production I design, with a higher aim of achieving Intermediate standard whenever possible. I am constantly searching for new techniques and effects that I can incorporate into my designs to develop this way of working further.

Above: The Set for Miranda (2022)

A convertible bar-come-classroom board made by remodelling an old, unusable piece of set without using any new material, and bar tables constructed using discarded staging (which were designed to be flat-packable and went on to be added to the company stores and continue to be used regularly)