A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction

Is sustainable theatre possible? This is the starting point for Katie Mitchell’s wild bet and the Sustainable Theatre? project, which she has designed in collaboration with Jérôme Bel and the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne. The London-based director, who is an avid environmental activist, pushes the fight to its climax here. By steering many local companies remotely, as well as theatres, so that each can add a piece of their identity to the play – and with the Collectif Mensuel adding its famous musical accompaniment for the Théâtre de Liège – Katie Mitchell creates a short cultural circuit, without any touring, that makes each revival environmentally friendly and completely unique.

Directed by Collectif Mensuel
Written by Miranda Rose Hall

2021, Théâtre de Liège, Belgium

Théâtre de Liège Website

This production is presented thanks to European Theatre Convention as part of the STAGES PROJECT

STAGES (Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift) is an ambitious theatre experiment aiming to challenge how the cultural sector interacts with the concept of sustainability.

14 influential theatre organizations, including a leading European theatre network, a theatre partner from Asia, and partners in academia, have joined together with director Katie Mitchell and choreographer Jérôme Bel – two artists that are renowned for embedding sustainability in their work – to test radical solutions to the biggest challenges posed by the climate crisis.

IOTF worked with the European Theater Convention to bring to online audiences five STAGES productions from theaters around the world of Miranda Rose Hall’s A Play for the Living in A Time of Extinction (2020). First staged within this project by the British director Katie Mitchell at Théâtre Vidy Lausanne in Switzerland, this play is a purposeful eco-feminist monologue by Miranda Rose Hall that reflects on our responsibilities and means of action in the face of ecological disaster. The production has been taken on as an experiment in sustainable touring by theaters in Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Denmark, and Taiwan. A supercut video includes clips from all productions and further lays out the stakes of the project. A panel discussion between key members from the various theaters explores the fascinating premises and concepts of the project around the issues of sustainability, touring, and what the theater can do in the midst of a climate crisis.

ALSO WATCH PANEL – STAGES: Sustainable Theatre Experiments  

The panel discusses the STAGES project as a model of sustainable practices within the theater. The panelists reflect on creative processes, experiments in staging and working practices, and engagements with local institutions and audiences. They interrogate the meaning of “sustainability” within the theater, the nature of the collaboration between artists and scientists, and the potential visions for the future role of theater in the context of the climate crisis.

Hosted by Ilinca Todorut, Executive Director of IOTF, Faculty of Theater and Film within Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania

Panelists:

Anica Tomić, Theater Director associated with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Croatia

Serge Rangoni, Artistic Director and General Manager of Théâtre de Liège, Belgium

Gin Huang, Producer at National Theater and Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

Tristan Pannatier, Producer at Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Switzerland

Eugenio Morello, Associate Professor in Urban Planning and Design at Politecnico di Milano, Italy