Theatre achieves new levels of sustainability for Moby Dick production

Royal & Derngate’s production teams are committed to improving the theatre’s sustainability practices through re-use and recycling wherever possible.

As part of its Made in Northampton seasons, the theatre creates numerous ambitious productions, captivating and delighting thousands of audiences each year who enjoy the imagination, the stories and the fun of live performance.

A huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes in creating all the elements of these shows – scenery, props, costumes. But how are materials sourced and once the run has finished, what happens to all the elements that make up a production? Theatres and theatre companies increasingly recognise the need to be more sustainable, and, with its in-house facilities and skilled craft teams, Royal & Derngate has welcomed this challenge.

Reaching 93% recycled materials usage for Moby Dick, with 96% earmarked for reuse, has contributed towards the production achieving Intermediate level of the Theatre Green Book standards – a new industry-wide initiative that is helping the theatre industry work towards improving the sustainability of its operations.

Other aspects of the production that helped the teams reach this target included the use of efficient lower wattage lighting, making use of in-house equipment rather hiring, use of rechargeable batteries, having acoustic music and sound effects all generated live on stage by the cast, and making sure that props and elements of the set were used in a variety of ways during the performance – for example planks of wood formed tables in one scene and were built into the deck of the ship at a later stage. A flexible approach to the design and construction, along with good communications, underpinned the whole process.

Royal & Derngate is delighted to have achieved its sustainability targets with Moby Dick, an ensemble piece that also went out on tour and needed to be flexible enough to work in different sizes and types of venue. The organisation continues to learn from its experiences, and to incorporate what is learnt into best practice for future Made in Northampton productions.