One of our key objectives is proactively establishing an environmentally sustainable production and touring model. Following the trial of a fully recycled set for the 2018 production, Not Such Quiet Girls, performed in the Howard Assembly Room, we have identified the new production of Handel’s Alcina as the next milestone – one of three Opera North mainstage productions to be performed in February and March 2021 in Leeds and taken on tour to Newcastle, Nottingham and Salford Quays.
Our aim is to build on this in the following year with a full season of three sustainable productions.
Alcina’s set will be fully recycled and nothing that appears on stage (set, props, costumes) will be newly purchased. The majority of the set will be sourced from existing productions currently stored at Opera North’s scenic warehouse in Kirkstall, and all other items will be bought from second-hand sources from within the Yorkshire and Humber region. The process of making the set, props and costume will also be considered. This is not just to include the direct environmental impact of the production itself, but the wider associated impact of Opera North and its supply chain.