The first two volumes of the Theatre Green Book give theatremakers and companies common standards for the sector’s journey to sustainable practice. Sustainable Productions sets common standards for producing shows sustainably. Sustainable Buildings provides guidance to make theatres fit for purpose in the context of the climate emergency.

This third and last volume, Sustainable Operations, covers everything else theatres do, from catering to rehearsals, offices to travel. Theatre’s impact on the planet is broad. Public buildings use energy. Audiences, staff and performers have to travel.

The numerous operations that theatre needs, from rehearsals through to marketing, selling tickets, collecting waste, running dressing rooms and making coffee, all add to theatre’s footprint.

It isn’t a matter of deciding which is the worst offender and forgetting about the rest. If theatre is to become sustainable, and be seen by the public as sustainable, then it has to review every aspect of what theatre-making means, and rethink every way in which it currently harms the planet.

Building on theatre operators’ own expertise, and the knowledge of theatres who have already begun this journey, Sustainable Operations provides solutions to those challenges, and offers a step-by-step approach to addressing them.