Newbury theatre commits to planting a tree for every ticketholder for bypass play
The Watermill theatre has announced it will plant a tree for every audience member who goes to see the world premiere of Camp Albion. The new play by Watermill Playwright in Residence Danielle Pearson is currently playing at the Newbury venue until July 16 and focuses on environmental activism and the 1996 ‘Battle of Newbury’. Its run at the Bagnor theatre follows a rural tour.
For every ticket purchased for Camp Albion from now until the end of the show’s run, The Watermill will plant a tree, working with a range of partners – including the Woodland Trust – to deliver this pledge. The theatre is also offering customers the opportunity to support this initiative by donating to its tree-planting fund at the time of booking, online or through the box office.
Artistic director and CEO Paul Hart said, “The destruction of 10,000 trees to build the bypass was an extraordinary moment in local and environmental history. We’re proud to have produced a new piece of writing that revisits this important time, and our pledge to plant a tree for every person who sees the show at the Watermill forms part of our continued commitment to produce theatre sustainably.”
Book online at www.watermill.org.uk or via the box office on 01635 46044.
See review from rural tour: https://bit.ly/3nuts2t
The Watermill is committed to taking action to respond to the climate emergency. The theatre’s location, on the banks of the River Lambourn, within a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, offers a unique connection to the natural environment. There are a number of initiatives under way to improve the environmental sustainability of its work, including reusing and recycling sets to minimise the waste in the production process, sourcing local produce for the restaurant and transitioning to digital communication and ticketing to reduce paper waste. The Watermill’s aim is to make a positive impact on the way its staff, acting companies and audiences can live, make, and enjoy theatre in an environmentally sustainable way.
Camp Albion is set in Newbury, in 1996. Nine miles of ancient woodland under threat, and the local community bitterly divided over the proposed route of the new bypass. When Cassie returns home for the university holidays, she meets Dylan, a beguiling road protester who draws her into a world of rickety treehouses, lentil stew, druidic rituals and stoic resistance. But her mother has other ideas, and as battle lines are drawn, Cassie must face the personal cost of activism.
In a time before smartphones, Twitter, Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion, the ‘Third Battle of Newbury’ was one of the definitive environmental campaigns of the 1990s. A new play with music, Camp Albion explores the heroism, humour and heated debate of this extraordinary moment in the town’s history.