what the twitterverse thinks of greenland

@Paul_Griffiths_ Feeling all green and depressed after @nationaltheatre #Greenland; on my way home to recycle, buy some wellies and write my will!

@ktlovestheatre National last night for #Greenland. Patronising claptrap! Script? Mali? Bamako? Eco-lesbians? UN? Rubbish! Like poor quality TIE. Miss it!

@miriamgillinson Is it bad that climate change feels like old news? Let's hope #Greenland @NationalTheatre changes my mind.

@pat_hobby @jackthorne did you write the toilet roll monologue in #greenland ? The first play to ever revolutionise the audience's wiping technique?

@peterlacy #Greenland new play at #National Theatre: strength/weakness doesn't tie story together in simple message. Frustrating but true of real event

@cathradojcin Went to see #Greenland at @NationalTheatre - v compelling & exciting look at climate change & all it's issues &complexities.Fully recommend

@shesaws Home from #greenland at the NT. Still making up my mind about how the climate change argument was made, but it certainly generates debate.

@tiina_hei Some excellent polar bear characterisation, rainfalls and snow storms at @NationalTheatre this evening. #Greenland more ...

at greenland, audiences get to have their say ahead of critics

The National Theatre's play about climate change, Greenland, had its first preview last night. The critics don't get to see the play till 1st February, but audience members, leaving the show last night, had a chance to express their views almost immediately.

In the Lyttelton foyer, there's a Talkaoke table, billed as a mobile talk show, where audience members take a seat, grab the microphone, and share their views on Greenland and climate change. (The pic shows a similar Talkaoke event at the Dana Centre.)

For those interested in other views still, a season of Greenland events includes talks by the four Greenland playwrights, and four well-known voices on climate change, Bjorn Lomborg, Tim Flannery, Nigel Lawson and David King. more ...

national theatre to stage documentary drama about climate change

The latest National Theatre press release says:

GREENLAND, a new play about uncertainty, confusion and the future of everything, by Moira Buffini, Matt Charman, Penelope Skinner and Jack Thorne, will open in the Lyttelton Theatre on 1 February. NT associate directors Bijan Sheibani and Ben Power are the director and dramaturg respectively; the production will be designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Jon Clark, video design by Finn Ross, sound and music by Dan Jones, and movement by Aline David. The cast includes Michael Gould, Isabella Laughland, Amanda Lawrence, Tunji Lucas, Lyndsey Marshal, Peter McDonald and Rhys Rusbatch.


Seeking to understand a subject of great complexity, the National Theatre has asked four of the most distinct and exciting playwrights in British theatre to collaborate on a new piece of documentary theatre. The team has spent six months interviewing key individuals from the worlds of science, politics, business and philosophy in an effort to understand our changing relationship with the planet.


GREENLAND combines the factual and the theatrical as several separate but connected narratives collide to form a provocative response to the most urgent questions of our time.


(GREENLAND, Lyttelton Theatre, previews from 25 January, press night 1 February, booking until 2 April, further dates to be announced.) more ...

new views on climate change

The National Theatre's New Views programme is entering its fourth year. From 9 October, 96 young people, three from each of the 32 London boroughs, will meet up with NT staff who they will track across the rest of the academic year. This year they will be following

the investigations, research and development of NT writers creating a new production which explores climate change and humanity's role in creating, avoiding or ameliorating it.  more ...

can the national theatre reduce and expand?

The National Theatre set itself a target: over three years, it would reduce its consumption of gas and electricity by 20%. At the same time, it would continue to expand its activities.

Like other institutions, the National made quick progress with ‘low-hanging fruit’: the deal with Philips, who provided the Vidiwall and the LED lighting, almost single-handedly slashed the electricity consumption. But there’s a moment when the light bulbs have been changed and the staff are recycling when most of the ‘easy wins’ have been made. It’s hard then not to hit some barriers

What steps did the National take next? My piece on 'A Greener National Theatre' appears here. more ...

the number of doors we can open

'There is no limit to what we can show online'
- says the NT's director Nicholas Hytner, in a longish piece I've done for Intelligent Life -
'the number of doors we can open, the number of walls we can bring down.' more ...

on target

The National Theatre has set itself a target of a 20% reduction in use of gas and electricity (taking 2006 as a benchmark). Today it published its annual report. So far there has been an 18% reduction in gas and 10% reduction in electricity. more ...

on the money

Fintan O'Toole says Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara is the best and funniest attack on our tendency to dream of a time when we had less money and more culture:

'Money, Shaw argues in Major Barbara, is civilisation. "It represents health, strength, honour, generosity and beauty as conspicuously and undeniably as the want of it represents illness, weakness, disgrace, meanness and ugliness." People who know this understand the world better than those who don't, even if they prefer bling and Big Brother to books and theatre.'

Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw (above) opens at the NT on Feb 26. more ...