Environmental Impact Report
Dear Octopus
Lyttelton Theatre

Photograph of the Final Model Box

Introduction
At of the end of 2023 and early 2024 the National theatre began contracting their Artists tocommit to deliver a show that meets Theatre Greenbook baseline standard. This all works
towards the ambition of the National Theatre to be Net Zero Carbon by 2030. These reports areintended to capture anecdotal data that will feed into future practice and process when making
large scale theatre to eventually deliver Advanced Greenbook standard as common practice.
These reports are a documentation of both successes and challenges and are to be used as atool for organisational learning and change – most importantly it will reflect the shared sense ofenvironmental responsibility. NB: These reports are written post-press night performance andby the completion of the run, with an opportunity for all parties involved in the delivery of theproduction to contribute.

March 2024

Principal Artistic and Production Team
Director Writer Set & Costume Designer –Lighting Designer –Sound Designer –Producer –Production Manager –Emily Burns
Dodie Smith
Frankie Bradshaw
Oliver Fenwick
Tingying Dong
Fran Miller
Heather DooleShow Summary
When a golden wedding anniversary reunites the Randolph family on the eve of WWII, Doraand Charles must reckon with the adults their children have become. Their children, meanwhile,
are haunted by the memory of the family they once were.
As the weekend’s celebrations unfold, the family walks a tightrope between intimacy andestrangement, camaraderie and rivalry, love and hate.
Data from Material Trackers
Department

Predicted
Reuse

ActualReuse

TGB Standard Attained

Scenery

77%

63%

Baseline (data incomplete)

Props

52%

83%

Intermediate

Costume75%

66%

Baseline

DesignFor this production, Frankie Bradshaw (designer) and Emily Burns (director) factored the theatre
green book heavily into their process; designs were submitted, and big decisions made early,
allowing time in the build to source and make more sustainably. Reuse was considered in thedesign for this show and Frankie chose to make use of existing stage equipment - the stage
revolve and the flying system - which negated the need to build heavyweight, engineered
scenery anew.
Scenery
Most of the walls were made using the ‘Jef and Janet’ reusable flats made by the workshops
last year – these flats are comprised of a metal frame with wooden cladding that can be used
repeatedly. All the walls were lined with lining paper, which is made from recycled paper andapplied using Peel – an adhesive that allows clean removal of the wallpaper, therefore notdamaging the flats underneath so they can be reused. Scenic art used Graphenstone paintMarch 2024

colours – GrafClean is a new range of low VOC, plastic-free paint, supplied by Flints fromJanuary 2024. Frankie (designer) was flexible regarding the mouldings used, which allowed
Construction to reuse salvaged mouldings from previous shows and this meant only buying avery small amount new.
One area where Construction was unable to reuse material was in constructing the flown wall;
due to weight restrictions, this had to be made from twin-wall. However, the decision was taken
to design and build the metal frames in a modular way that could be used for flown scenery in
the future, or that could be easily turned into a ‘Jef and Janet’ flat instead, making its future life
potential more possible. Another area where Construction hoped to use more reclaimed
material was for the wall panelling, however Construction unfortunately didn’t have access toenough reclaimed material in this instance.
Construction expected a wider margin in the percentages of reuse on this show, however it’sbelieved the main reason for this was the decision to use a birch-ply sacrificial floor. Despite this,
this production is a good example of how, with enough modular, stock items in circulation,
environmental design doesn’t have to equal minimalism.
Props
This show being set in the 1930s made sourcing second hand a natural choice, and the artisticteam were very much on board with sourcing everything from our stores first and then antiquesmarkets.
There is food scripted in this show, however, early meetings to discuss the concerns around thisresulted in all meals be set at the end of the dinner once food had been cleared, which greatly
reduced consumables to toast, some fake food and some drinks. Meeting with the artistic teamearly to discuss, and everyone being amiable to some script changes to allow for this, made forhuge savings in time, money, and food waste.
Some items did need to be brought new, for example tablecloths and artificial flowers that werevery specific. However, the decision was made to buy artificial flowers instead of real ones asthese at least can have a future life in another show.
There is a real flame log fire in this production, and Props decided to use ceramic logs instead ofpurchasing new ones, however in hindsight, this wasn’t the most sensible decision from a safety
or environmental perspective as they’re not being used in the way recommended by themanufacturer which has resulted in us buying unanticipated replacements.
Frankie (designer) was flexible regarding the glassware used at the table setting which allowed
the props team to source 16 settings second hand, which were all similar styles but not exactlymatching.

March 2024

The flexibility of the artistic team has been key to meeting TGB intermediate standard in props
on this show.
Costume Production
The costume team had a really good experience using Cosprop's, and by holding fittings there it
meant they didn't need to bring all the options for fittings to the NT, which saved a lot oftransport. The excellent quality of the costumes has meant that the running repairs and/orreplacements have been minimal on this show.
Frankie (designer) was very open to using fabric from NT stock for some of the makes and theCostume department also found some companies that make vintage-style clothing usingdeadstock fabric.
The Costume department found it was incredibly helpful setting out their approach tocostuming this show with Emily (Director) pre-rehearsals. From the start, she knew Costume
wanted to do the majority from hires, and that to costume this show in line with our green booktargets everyone would need to be open to what could be found, and that when it came to thechildren, Costume would create looks for the 'sets' of children that may not be identical. This alsomeant Costume could schedule fitting times and slots very early on in the process.
However, this kind of costuming did make fitting understudies tricky. Creating a matching look
for the understudies could only happen once all fittings for the main cast were complete andCostume knew what they were replicating. The logistics of this meant, understudies were notready by tech and did require more new items to be purchased than we had predicted.
Costume felt they delivered a show in as green a manner as they can currently. It is clear the next
step in the process will be investigating the provenance of suppliers.
It was interesting to see the impact of having children in the cast on Costume’s TGB statistics, ascurrently it is extremely hard to costume children from vintage or second-hand items. They alsochange size quite drastically throughout a run!
Wigs, Hair and Make-up
Emily (director) donated some of her own hair to Wigs, hair and make-up (WH&M) to be madeinto a wig for this show, and two other wigs were reused from a previous show (Dear England).
Less hair was used in the making of the wigs to create a more natural look, but this also reduced
the amount of hair used overall, from approx. 200g to between 130-150g – this equated toapproximately one and a half whole wigs saved across this production. For understudies, theactors’ own hair was used and styled instead of doubling up wigs. All wigs are being wet set by
WH&M in a traditional method, so there are no heated appliances used which saves electricity
as heated appliances draw power heavily.

March 2024

One wig was made to design specifications, but the decision was made to remake it in line withthe actor’s wishes for their look. This of course added to the environmental impact of the wigs
overall, however the original wig was repurposed for the understudy so did not go to waste. All
the wigs created for this show will go on to have future lives.
LightingOn this production there was open collaboration from Oliver Fenwick (Lighting Designer) whowas willing to utilise mostly in-house LED source fixtures. Lighting hired extra units from a UKbased supplier, who try to combine transport runs so there is less carbon impact. All additional
fixtures were LED source where possible, and some fixtures which were borrowed from anothervenue were picked up on foot! The LED tape was reused from previous productions, as were thedrivers and PSUs, and will be used again where possible. All items purchased new wereensured to be suitable for future life.
The artistic team were open to suggestion and collaboration on more environmentally friendly
options, and R and D had a relaxed approach which was very helpful. Lighting found theprocess of making a sustainable show is made easier when all collaborators are willing to buy
into the concept and utilise in-house equipment. Finding solutions such as lending and sharing
equipment with other venues, and willingness to reuse rather than buy new is welcome andleads to more success in achieving sustainable productions.
Sound and VideoSound continued to reuse existing stock on this show, for example, radio mic heads andspeakers. Only one additional box was hired which arrived on a delivery truck which was also
coming for a collection.
The Sound team make a concerted effort to orchestrate collections and deliveries at the sametime to cut down on courier journeys. This was a successful show, environmentally, from a soundperspective.

March 2024