social and environmental responsibility

We work hard to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible – by reducing what we need to use, minimising what we waste and maximising what we can reuse/recycle – both on and off stage.

Behind the scenes in the office it’s the small gestures that add up to make a difference, and efficiency is generally the name of the game – we use low-energy CFL bulbs in the lights (and turn them off when they’re not needed of course!) and our computers are set to switch off when not in use. We’ll always put on an extra jumper before turning on the heating in the winter or turn over a piece of paper to write on the back too, and we’ve got triple-glazing in the windows for better insulation. We try to work on-line rather than on-paper when we can – for example by run e-mailing list rather than mailing out a printed brochure – and we generally do our best to minimise the amount of paper and printing we use. But we do need to use some energy, so our office electricity comes from 100% renewable sources (supplied by Good Energy who also supply our gas for heating – they plough profits back into a scheme to promote small-scale solar water heating systems, off-setting the CO2 from the gas)

And the same principles apply when we’re on the side of the stage too – it makes an even bigger difference to switch off the theatre lights over a tea break than it does the energy-saving-desk-lamp in the office, so that’s just what we do! And we’ll always try hard to source materials for our sets, props, costumes and consumables as responsibly as possible – we keep a store of costumes, props and materials that we can re-use, and secondhand shopping is great for reducing waste going to landfill, and we’ll choose local suppliers & producers whenever we can to minimise transport distances. We’d always prefer to use FSC timbers & papers to make sure we’re only buying into well managed forests, and if there’s a recycled option then we always try to go for that one! Whenever there’s a choice we’ll go for suitable low-energy lighting equipment.

It’s not just environmental though, it’s also important to us that we try to avoid forced, indentured, sweated and child labour and more generally the exploitative & poor treatment of people, animals and the environment. We’re reckon we can avoid exploiting people ourselves, but we also try to think seriously about where we shop to avoid buying into things we don’t like!

Our affiliates and suppliers are a key part of our ethical policy – it’s important to us that we work with other like-minded people and companies, and that we encourage others to think about the social and environmental impact of their work, so we actively look into who are suppliers and collaborators are and try to avoid those we feel don’t take our world seriously enough while encouraging and seeking out those who do.

We use the carbon-neutral Super Green Hosting for our website hosting, with their ultra-efficient servers to reduce their power usage, and we bank with the Co-op because of their ethical policy.

We like to cycle, walk or take the train when it’s an option, and we try to make that possible for others when we pick our venues and rehearsal rooms – so hopefully you wont have to drive when you next come to one of our shows!

Oh, and we’ve got a little veg-patch outside the office, so if you ever visit for a meeting you’re quite likely to be fed something home-grown!