Reality Check: Plastic, Waste & Us
As young people, concerns about sustainability and the environment have been at the front of our minds in recent years. Countries in the EU are generating huge amounts of plastic waste each year, in fact, Irish people generate around 73 kg of plastic packaging waste per person every year. These numbers are concerning, and should hopefully have us thinking about how we can lower these figures. The Circle-T project is a brilliant example of how we can start thinking more sustainably in our daily lives.
Next Generation of Theatre-Makers
As the next generation of theatre-makers it is important for us to start thinking about sustainable theatre early on, as these issues are only likely to grow with time. In the process of writing the script, we have already begun strongly thinking about how we can tackle the themes of sustainability and the environment in this production. We feel it is important to present the topic in an exciting and accessible way.
Collaborative Creation Process
Playwright Violet Thompson has made sure that all cast members have a say in what is being written, and got us all thinking about how all our wishes could fit into the general themes of sustainability and the environment. We have also started thinking about how we can be more sustainable in our set and costume designs.
Sustainable Production Choices
As a group we have made the decision to try and limit the amount of purchases we have to make, and when we do have to buy things to buy them second hand. We have had the idea to borrow costumes from other theatre companies, or to use things belonging to members themselves. These ideas have been excellent at helping us think about how we can use things we already have, not just in the theater but in other parts of our lives as well.
Impact & Audience
We hope that our production will have a positive impact on our communities, and encourage other young people, and theatre-makers, to start introducing sustainable practices into their lives. That’s why we have tried to write a play that is intriguing to a wide audience. Violet presented us with the idea of writing a play of the solar-punk genre. This wasn’t a genre that everybody in the group was familiar with but we had the basic concepts and ideas explained to us, and were left to do some research. After looking at aesthetics, and having a look at some other works, we all decided that this genre would be a perfect fit for what we were looking to achieve with this project. We started to think about different plot ideas and features. Many of us were strongly attached to the idea of introducing gods and monsters into the play, we thought this could be a good way of making the show not only fun to perform, but fun and exciting to watch.
Gods, Monsters & Kami
Violet introduced the idea of Kami, from Japanese shintoism. Kami are almost spirits of nature inhabiting different natural features such as rocks, rivers, and trees. This was definitely an intriguing idea to us all, and after looking further into it we decided that they could definitely be a key part of our show. As well as bringing in these new and unique ideas we also went with some more common and accessible plot lines, such as having a romance sub-plot. We found this to give a perfect balance of new ideas and familiar themes, so that we could reach as big an audience as possible.
Theatre That Actually Changes Something
The goal of this production is to really emphasize how important it is to think sustainably not just in theatre, but in all aspects of life. I hope this post has given you a small insight in how we are going to achieve that. Thank you for reading, and stay tuned to hear more about how the project is going!
Author of blog: Ali Cairns
Published by: Dominika Grydź