White Light part of the team behind London’s Green Theatre ProgrammeSeptember 9th 2008, day three of the 2008 PLASA Show, sees the launch of the Mayor of London’s Green Theatre Programme, designed to help the theatre industry in London and beyond reduce its impact on the environment and improve its sustainability, all without affecting the high artistic standards that make British theatre so successful.
Leading entertainment supplier White Light has been a member of the working party that has been putting the plan together over the last year; the company has also assisted in compiling some of the case studies that feature in the plan.
“It’s pretty clear that we need to reduce the amount of material and energy that is wasted in the creation of theatre,” notes White Light’s Managing Director, Bryan Raven. “Fortunately, when you start to look at the way we do things through ‘green’ eyes, it quickly becomes clear that there are a lot of very easy steps that those of us working in this industry can do to help right now, whether that be recycling the set once a show has finished its run, or just turning off all of those discharge moving lights when they’re not actually being used between shows - which will not just help the environment, but also increase the reliability and reduce the running costs of those lights. This is the kind of practical, real-world advice we’ve aimed to see in this Programme.”
The launch of the Green Theatre Programme at PLASA2008 is being supported by an exhibition and seminar programme organised by The Theatres Trust, PLASA and the Mayor of London and supported by ETC, Martin, Philips, PixelRange and White Light. The exhibition will feature case studies who are already working to increase their sustainability, including the re-designed external lighting scheme at the National Theatre, the use of fuel-cell technology and low-energy lighting at the Arcola Theatre and the efforts being made by award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable to reconcile lighting design with carbon transparency.
The exhibition will be complemented by a seminar programme running during PLASA 2008, with speakers including Dr Ben Todd from the Arcola Theatre discussing his venue’s fuel cell, staff from the National Theatre discussing their change to ‘The Big Switch Off,’ dousing their moving light rig between shows, and a Technical Sustainability discussion forum hosted by theatre owners ATG and the ABTT.
Further information about the Green Theatre Programme is available from the Theatres Trust, with electronic copies of the document available for download from there or via the White Light website at www.WhiteLight.Ltd.uk.