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“To say that a stable no-growth economy is impossible simply shows the poverty of our imagination.” Rod Dixon from Red Ladder Theatre Company shares his views on the necessity for the left to find sustainable alternatives to ‘growth’.

And theatre production Ten Billion directed by Katie Mitchell is a sell out, delivering a “dramatic warning about the planet’s future” – but will people listen?

It seems that theatre can deliver personal growth in terms of development of understanding, without requiring the production of more ‘material stuff’.  Perhaps our new economic model should involve more theatre?

Edit (11/10/12): Listening to Becs Andrews talking about her practice of Theatre Design this week, she highlighted that actually there is an enormous amount of waste in Theatre Design.  Despite her best efforts to recycle materials through resource centres, in reality the majority is skipped after each performance.  In her talk, she was mulling over whether digital sets would reduce this waste.  Although, as she pointed out, there is also waste from digital technologies – much of which is toxic – which is simply shipped and dealt with overseas.  So – does this leave us with the travelling theatre company, who keep their props in a bicycle trailer and re-use them?