Test den nye værktøjskasse til at tale med publikum om bæredygtighed

This month, a chance to test a new tool to help you talk with audiences about sustainability, case studies from the UK’s largest new cultural building opening this year, and what's possibly the first pantomime to achieve Theatre Green Book Advanced Standard. Plus new speakers announced for our Buildings webinar series, and more…

Theatre Green Book is free to use but it's not free to run. For details of our suggested donations for theatres and other organisations using Theatre Green Book, and to find out how you can support our work as an individual, go to theatregreenbook.com/support.

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Talking Sustainability: take part in the toolkit beta test

Over the past year, Indigo has been working in partnership with 15 different UK cultural organisations to develop a Talking Sustainability Toolkit, funded by Arts Council England. The Toolkit has been developed to help organisations navigate the difficulties of communicating their sustainability initiatives with audiences. Talking Sustainability brings together learnings, experience and tried-and-tested tools from across the sector.

Comprising a structured step-by-step approach with ideas, advice, case studies and tools to use for measuring and evaluating your activity, this Toolkit aims to give you more confidence in enhancing your sustainability communication strategy.

You can watch a recording of the pilot launch, with speakers from Almeida Theatre, Hull Truck and Mercury Theatre talking about their experience of working with the tool kit here.

Organisations interested in using the toolkit and helping its development are now invited to take part in a beta test. To register and receive your copy of the toolkit, complete this form.

Talking Sustainability: Pilot Toolkit­

Buildings Webinars: new speakers announced

Our monthly series of webinars focussed on buildings continues next Friday, 22 May, with an Introduction to Renewables. Speakers include James Loughlin from Buro Happold, William Haggard from CarverHaggard, Phillip Pearcy from the Courtyard Hereford and Nik Frampton from Mercury Theatre Colchester. It’s free to register but attendance is capped, so sign up now if you’d like to join us.

We’ve also announced speakers for more of the coming series. The session on Heating and Cooling on Wed 17 June (note change of date) with feature Tristan Couch of Skelly & Couch Ltd, Steven Morris, Head of Operations at Wales Millennium Centre, David Guilding, Chief Operating Officer at Compton Verney and Jackson Bylett, Net Zero Programme Lead at South Bank Employers Group

For the focus on Biodiversity on Fri 17 July we’ll be joined by

Claire Wardroper, Costume Production Supervisor at the National Theatre and Christian Wallace, Technical Services Director at The Old Vic.

The series continues to November and there are more details of upcoming sessions and speakers on our website.

Buildings Webinar Series­

News and events

The People’s Emergency Briefing is a new film from the National Emergency Briefing setting out the risks facing the nation, and the credible, positive responses available in a clear and accessible account designed for screenings in communities across the UK. On their website you can find out more about the film, see a map of where screenings are taking place and get information about how to hold your own community screening.

The Culture Global Stocktake for Climate Action is an multi-national evidence gathering programme to show how culture can contribute to combatting climate change. A first draft of their advocacy document, aimed at bringing culture into the UN’s climate action policy agenda, is available now, and further contributions from the sector are invited.

Newly opened in Oxford, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities combines teaching and research facilities with a 500-seat concert hall, a 250-seat theatre and other performance spaces. It is the first concert hall, and the largest university building in the world to have been built to Passivhaus Standards. You can read about the building’s sustainability in this case study from engineers Max Fordham, a blog post from Passivhaus Trust, and on the University of Oxford website.

Imagine Theatre has published a case study of the environmental impact of Sleeping Beauty, their panto for Stafford Gatehouse Theatre. The production had no new set construction and 293 out of 300 props were reused or repurposed. These steps and more made it possibly the first panto to achieve Theatre Green Book Advanced Standard.

Coming up…

As part of inaugural Climate Playwriting Prize, the nationwide series of Climate Storytelling for Theatre workshops is underway. Sessions coming up include with tiata fahodzi in Bristol on Tue 19 May, Mercury Theatre, Colchester on Sat 30 May and Exeter Northcott Theatre on Mon 6 July.

The ABTT Theatre Show takes place at Alexandra Palace in London from Wed 3 - Thu 4 June. It is the exhibition where the broadest collection of specialist suppliers supporting live performance technology and production gather to connect with those who deliver the performance in the world of theatre, events, festivals, music and more. Theatre Green Book will be there, and ABTT will also be announcing the winners of the ABTT annual awards, including prizes for an individual and a product that have made significant contributions to theatre sustainability this year.

What's next for sustainability? Architecture for a changing climate is a RIBA talk with industry experts explaining the vision behind the new Schwarzman Centre in Oxford, the challenges of balancing environmental factors with specialist building requirements, and new ideas on community-powered approaches to sustainability and stewardship. It takes place at the Schwarzman Centre on Wed 3 June 6.30pm. Tickets cost £13.20 (concession £6.60).

Theatre Green Book holds regular, free introductory webinars that help you get started using Theatre Green Book and its key tools. The next Production Calculator webinar is on Wed 27 May 12-1pm and the next Theatre Green Book Introduction webinar is Wed 10 June 4-5pm. Plus we’re re-running our popular, practical session on how to take simple steps to get to Preliminary Level on Tue 16 June 2-3pm.

For any past events you may have missed you can see our archive here.

See all upcoming events  ­

Change of data responsibility

From April 2026, Theatre Green Book became an independent registered charity. As part of that change, your personal data which was previously held on Theatre Green Book’s behalf by the Theatres Trust has transferred to the new charity. This is a legal change only - your data will continue to be handled in the same systems, by the same teams, and used for the same purposes. You don't need to take any action.  

The personal detail held by Theatre Green Book includes contact details, booking history, questionnaire responses, and our interactions with you. Your data will continue to be held only as long as needed to deliver services and meet legal obligations.

Under UK law you have the rights to:

access your data

ask for corrections

object to processing based on legitimate interests

ask for deletion (in most circumstances)

restrict how your data is used

complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

You can find out more about your rights at ico.org.uk.

If you have any question about the transfer of ownership or how Theatre Green Book keeps and uses your personal data, please contact us.

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Thank you

Thank you for being part of the Theatre Green Book community. If you have events, stories or questions you'd like to share via this newsletter, do get in touch: admin@theatregreenbook.com

The Theatre Green Book team

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