Performing Arts in "Greener" Colours
Sustainability as a process, sustainability as a human challenge. In harmony with nature and the available resources. Thinking about theatrical production in such a way that we do not renounce our vision of how to present the whole in a good and effective way, but we also consume fewer natural resources. Not everything is permanent. Rather, it is durable, and this is certainly not to be taken in a negative sense. However, for such an approach, which is not just a phantasmagorical mirage, it is necessary to remove the ego and prioritize the eco. The eco way for a more inert artistic process.
The morning workshop Greener Theatre? by Finnish educator Anna Rouhu from Uniarts Helsinki went through two phases. An educational lecture on sustainability issues in theatre (i.e. the necessary means for set design such as props, costumes, lighting, etc.) was followed by collective work. Divided into three separate groups, the attendees attempted to convert their knowledge about sustainability and recycling into their own concept of sustainable theatre - from the kind of platforms used to prop exchanges (seen as a free act of theatrical belonging), to larger prop warehouses, to suggestions on how to present the theme of sustainability in student productions.
Sustainability is also about experimentation, perseverance, communication and, most importantly, patience. One of the many things that discourages us from this initiative, as well as interest in finding other, greener solutions, is a distaste for bureaucratic procedures; upcycling unneeded props, costumes, or other materials to make a theatrical production goes through several bureaucratic stages, and for some, it is easier to get rid of the unnecessary stuff by simply tossing it in the trash. This is one of the common and unpleasant phenomena we encounter in practice, and in taking this detour we feel that we are saving time by doing so. However, it should not be forgotten that there is more in this world to be saved than time and money.
