Good Home Wanted – The Production Blog

21 December 2011

Those that read this blog regularly know by now that I quite often” bat” on about recycling and  how much we try to reuse here at The Watermill.

I’ve just gone through the design for our 25th Anniversary Seasonal Sauce and with pride can say it will be made of 90% recycled material and that’s not including the jokes (boom boom).

The Wind in the Willows is proving to be more of a challenge though, so maybe one of you can help. We have already been approached by St. Gabriel’s who will be borrowing props for future in the year, and not wishing to hide  our light under a bushel, our sound department has been brilliant.

Earlier this year we were approached by Juliesbicycle.com, a green theatre initiative, to see if we would change our radio batteries. As you may know, for some time The Watermill has not only recycled all our batteries, but was one of the first collection points in the area (last year we sent 100kg. to an accredited recycler). Collection boxes are still in the foyer, so please feel free to drop off worn out batteries over the festive period.

Julie’s Bicycle are keen for theatres to try using the new rechargeable systems which were  traditionally avoided due to unreliability. Wicked at the Apollo Victoria London was trialling the system and being of a similar size ( in attitude) The Watermill, naturally, became involved.

Thanks to the hard work Sally and Gareth have done, putting the systems in place, we are proud to be one of the first theatres in the country now committed to the Better Battery campaign.

So where is my green problem with Toad Hall?  Well I can’t think of a way to reuse the set! For those that have seen the show, all the set is made from a rubber coated material cut into strips to form the willows and all the riverbank scenes. It is actually the same material that is used as the side curtains on Lorries.

We could just recycle the rubber unless you have any ideas – a small amount we are going to use as a sort of “Butchers screen” in the workshop to act as a dust/draft break, and the rest…any suggestions?

So if anyone wants about 80mtrs of rubber material cut into 200mm strips please contact me at production@watermill.org.uk.

Have a fab yule.

Lawrence Doyle – Production Manager