This Earth Day, we’re reflecting on how Feral Monster's creative and production teams brought this new musical to life while doing as little damage to the planet as possible.

With all our productions, we meet Theatre Green Book’s Baseline standard of sustainability, meaning that 50% of materials have been used before and 65% will go on to have a future life. In our interview with Feral Monster’s designer Cara Evans, we said we’d aim for the Intermediate standard for this show, meaning 75% of materials would have been used before and 80% of materials would go on to have a future life. Let’s see how we did…

Hiring and using existing materials

One of the many benefits of reusing and hiring is that our materials come with a story. Here are some of our highlights:

• We bought the swing set from an ex-Olympian on Facebook Marketplace
• We used ladders from our 2019 show On Bear Ridge
• We bought flooring from Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru
• We adapted our scaffolding to build the climbing frame
• We bought the BMX bikes from Facebook Marketplace
• We bought second-hand costumes from charity shops, eBay, Depop and Vinted
• We hired a large wall (cyclorama) made from PVC from National Dance Company Wales.

Ensuring materials go on to have a future life

If you saw the show, you may remember the bus stop where Jax, Ffion, Sam, Cuz, Blubz and Connor often found themselves. Since the tour, it’s made its way over to the wonderful circus group Organised Kaos.

Other materials have also found a new home:

• All of the steel used went to a farmer in Carmarthenshire to build gates
• The faux grass has been donated to a nursery in Cardiff to create an outdoor space
• The swing set has gone to a new family
• The BMX bikes have been given to freelance crew members.

So, how does that all add up?

Across the production, 66% of materials had been used before and 80% have gone on to have a future life. This means that we didn’t quite meet the Intermediate standard overall. David, our Head of Production, has put this down to the need for virgin metal to ensure the set was safe to climb and dance on. “The bus stop alone was 300kg! Who said that working in theatre was easy?”.

While ensuring our productions are made as sustainably as possible, over the last year we’ve also been co-hosting Welsh Theatre and the Climate Crisis events to share learnings across the theatre industry in Wales. We held one of these gatherings along the Feral Monster tour at Pontio in Bangor, hearing from 12 experts on topics from the circular economy to low-tech creative processes to Arts Council Wales’ Strategy for Climate Justice and the Arts.