Panto at Rotherham Civic puts sustainability centre stage

One of the cast in Cinderella - photo credit Nicola Young Photography

But behind the incredible costumes, awesome sets and hilarious jokes, is what organisers have called “the ultimate sustainable theatre company”.

Imagine Theatre have produced Rotherham’s pantomime and joint-CEO Sarah Boden is proud of the strides made to ensure as little material is wasted as possible.

“The biggest thing about panto is that everything is re-used,” she said.

“The sets, the costumes and even the special effects have been used before.

“We’ve got an incredible warehouse full of scenery, props and costumes which are used in pantomimes across the country each year.

“That means huge savings financially, but importantly also environmentally.

“We also work in an incredibly creative industry, so we are used to adapting costumes and sections of set to suit different towns and cities.

“All our sets when we initially build them are designed with the future in mind – so we make sure all the parts within them are fixable and adaptable, meaning we don’t need to start from scratch and waste materials.”

Other sustainability initiatives going into Imagine Theatre productions this year includes swapping articulated lorries that deliver the sets over to HVO fuel.

“Within the theatre industry there is a ‘green book’, which is a guide about how productions can become more sustainable,” said Sarah.

“Everything we work on takes that into account.

“There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make theatre in general as green as it possibly can be, but panto is probably the most green because we use everything year after year.”

There are still major challenges – cost-effective sustainable glitter is an example – but Sarah feels it is vital that those involved in panto take the lead on becoming more sustainable.

“If we build sustainable practices into panto now then in the next generation will just accept them as standard practices,” she added.

“To me that’s really important in building a responsible company as well as a responsible production.”

Cinderella is on at Rotherham Civic until Sunday, January 7, 2024.

To book visit www.rotherhamtheatres.co.uk, or call 01709 823621.