Published on August 19, 2024
 
Het Zuidelijk Toneel is part of a solid international initiative in the field of greening: the ETC Theatre Green Book. Artistic director Sarah Moeremans and Hilke Bastiaansen, planning and coordination, explain how they work on a sustainable theatre company.

How did you come to commit to the Theatre Green Book (see bottom of page)?

Sarah Moeremans: 'We arrived at the Theatre Green Book from the question of how we as a company can increase our independence. So not even primarily from the desire to become greener. We wanted to have less need for material things, be less financially dependent and produce more flexibly. In doing so, a number of things came up that had the side effect of being quite green.

HZT was already a member of the European Theatre Convention, initiator of the Theatre Green Book. They were looking for partners, especially organisations that could contribute from an artistic perspective, because there were very few of them. I am now the only director in the focus group.'

That's remarkable. Why aren't there more?

Moeremans: 'Because greening quickly seems to be a 'problem' for technicians, production managers and business people, but very often not for directors. Because you can green with LED, you can travel by train instead of flying, and only offer vegetarian lunches. That makes it seem like a bit of a problem for 'others' and that the artistic staff and those 'others' fight each other over green issues.'

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