Could my theatre go ‘greener’?

A few years ago, driven by a somewhat indefinable but strong inner impulse, I knocked on the door of my then theatre director in Miskolc with an idea: Could our theatre go ‘greener’?

Since then, I have been through countless learnings, books, manuals, projects and trainings. Participated in various civic, professional and media discussions, founded the domestic hashtag#greentheatre alliance, and in the meantime, sustainability and eco-consciousness have become part of my life in every sense.

This is why I was grateful when I was asked by Tamara Török to host this opening event and panel discussion. And not just because it gave me the occasion to delve a little deeper into the world of international and domestic green theatre ambitions. But especially because it all happened at Katona József Színház, my former theatre and one of the first art institutions committed to sustainability in Hungary.

The occasion was given by Iphigenia Taxopoulou’s remarkable and wide-ranging book 'Sustainable Theatre: Theory, Context, Practice'. Which not only provides the reader with a wealth of useful practices and inspiring examples. But it proves that theatre can be greener in a creative, bold, progressive and committed way, while respecting the so-called artistic freedom. And showing how this has been practised in different parts of the world and for such an amazingly long time. 

How it's not just the present, but also the history: the path is paved, we just have to walk it…

Thank you to all my fellow panellists Ildi Tihanyi, Korentsy Endre and of course, Iphigenia Taxopoulou, for joining me. I enjoyed listening to your thoughts, experiences, ideas, and I’m sure we all learned a lot. This event has reinforced once again that what I had only suspected a couple of years ago is indeed possible: the sustainable theatre. 

To quote Iphigeneia, it is still just up to us to collectively "unleash the unique transformational power of arts and culture”!