These days, being environmentally conscious is an essential part of many organisations’ agenda - but what exactly does it mean to be green in the world of the Performing Arts? In this blog post, we take a wee look at one of our recent productions, Ghosthunter, to see what steps Visible Fictions implemented for the show.
Film still: The Ghosthunter set seen from the outside.
It can be rather tricky to on your own find a clear route towards sustainability, especially when manoeuvring all the ups and downs of putting together a performance. Ghosthunter in particular was a huge project before the doors even opened. The show was housed in a big depot owned by the Scottish Opera which is located on the outskirts of Glasgow. Here our amazing crew built an enormous set of an old townhouse, with 5 astonishingly detailed rooms, all filled to the brim with furniture and everyday trinkets. On top of that, the production incorporated some very savvy tech to create the effects of a haunted house. It was a big job, needing a staggering amount of various materials and items.
Visible Fictions worked closely with Reset Scenery, a fantastic non-profit company that is committed to transforming the Creative Industries’ scenic waste into a circular resource for all. To reduce our carbon footprint, the Ghosthunter set was put together from mostly recycled materials. We strived to build almost the entire set with timber obtained from a museum installation in Perth. It definitely came with its challenges to rework these resources to the dimensions needed for the show, but in the end, it turned out amazing. In addition, a lot of the props for the show were obtained from charity shops. Recycling and repurposing materials and items are good ways to work towards achieving sustainability goals, and for us, it is highly important to reuse as much as we can.
To keep up to date with other ways of enhancing our sustainability credentials, all the Visible Fictions staff members recently completed Carbon Literacy Training with the Carbon Literacy Project. It was a truly inspiring session which we all greatly enjoyed! As part of our training, we were encouraged to make pledges and this motivated Visible Fictions to launch a new series on Social Media – to post once a month about our progress in our Carbon reducing journey. On the last Friday of the month, we will take to our social platforms and report on our ups and downs, as well as invite our followers to comment and share their green stories. So why not join us on Instagram or Facebook and get a conversation started?
