Stafford Pantomime Achieves Advanced Status With The Theatre Green Book
/Sleeping Beauty, Sustainability and the Theatre Green Book
How Stafford Pantomime Achieved Advanced Status – and Why That Matters
By Jazmyne Evans, Operations & Productions Administrator, Imagine Theatre
When you think of pantomime, you probably imagine glitter, laughter and a bit of organised chaos – not sustainability frameworks, carbon data or tracking spreadsheets. But behind the sequins at Imagine Theatre, we’ve been asking ourselves an important question: how can we keep creating joyful, spectacular pantomime while reducing our impact on the planet?
For the 2025/26 season, we decided to put that question into action. We’re proud to share that Sleeping Beauty at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre has achieved Advanced status under the Theatre Green Book, marking a significant milestone not just for Imagine Theatre, but for large‑scale commercial pantomime.
What Is the Theatre Green Book?
The Theatre Green Book provides a practical, industry‑wide framework to help theatre productions reduce their environmental impact. Rather than focusing on policy statements, it looks at what actually happens during a production’s lifecycle – materials, transport, energy use, waste and reuse.
An Advanced rating recognises productions that take clear, measurable and practical steps towards a high standard of sustainable practice.
For Imagine Theatre, achieving this level reflects a way of working that has been developing over many years.
Building Sustainability Into the Way We Work
Imagine Theatre has been carbon neutral (via offsetting) for around five years. But headline targets, while important, don’t always tell the full story.
As Joint CEO Sarah Boden explains:
“While long-term net zero targets matter, they’re headline figures across an entire business. We wanted to dig deeper — could we make a meaningful difference on a show-by-show basis?”
With more than 260 pantomimes produced across the UK over the past 25 years, we knew that incremental, consistent changes could have a significant cumulative impact. During the 2025/26 panto season, we decided to apply the Theatre Green Book in full — tracking not just our intentions, but our real‑world decisions.
Sleeping Beauty at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre became our test case.
Why Stafford?
There were several productions we could have chosen, but Stafford was the natural starting point. Before joining Imagine Theatre, I’d worked as DSM on two pantomimes at the Gatehouse, meaning there was already a strong, collaborative relationship with the venue team.
That trust allowed us to work openly, plan early and embed sustainability into decision‑making from the outset — not as an add‑on, but as a shared responsibility.
What Advanced Level Looked Like in Practice
Achieving Advanced status didn’t require sacrificing creative ambition. Instead, it came down to planning earlier, communicating more clearly, and making better use of existing resources.
Here’s what that meant for Sleeping Beauty:
Scenic
100% of the set was reused. Existing scenery was repaired, reinforced and repainted, keeping nearly two tonnes (1,983kg) of material in circulation and avoiding new builds entirely.
Costume
Approximately 75% of costumes were reused or adapted, with repairs batched to reduce energy use. Some garments in our stock are over a decade old — and still performing beautifully thanks to ongoing care and maintenance.
Props
Out of around 300 props, nearly 80% came from existing stock, with many items designed to last five to ten years. New props were built with longevity, not short‑term use, in mind.
Transport
Transport was carefully planned to reduce journeys, combining loads wherever possible. Where feasible, lower‑carbon HVO fuel was used for set transport.
Technical & Disposal
Equipment was maintained rather than replaced, more than 1,100 batteries were collected and recycled, and disposal was handled responsibly wherever possible. Where equipment was outsourced, partners were selected based on strong sustainability policies that aligned with our own.
Not Reinventing the Wheel — Just Doing It Better
One of the key lessons from this process is that sustainability doesn’t have to mean radical change.
As Joint CEO and Managing Director Steve Boden says:
“Sustainability is at the heart of how we make our shows. With its cyclical nature, pantomime is uniquely placed to work in this way, and we are proud to be leading the way in the sector to achieve this advanced status.”
He continues:
“While not every production can avoid new builds, our focus remains on making practical choices, creating a working environment and introducing processes that reduce waste and support long-term use. This production shows what can be achieved when we do that.”
In many ways, theatre already works sustainably. We reuse, adapt, repurpose and collaborate every day. The Theatre Green Book simply helped us measure that work, formalise it, and make it consistent.
The Honest Bit: Storage, Time and Commitment
Reuse only works if you’re prepared to support it properly. Storage space, staff time and maintenance all come with costs, and sometimes the easiest option is to buy new and dispose of the old.
We’ve chosen not to take that route.
Our warehouse and stock system are central to our sustainability efforts, and while they require careful management, they allow us to make responsible choices year after year. It’s not the quickest solution — but it’s the right one.
Looking Ahead
Achieving Advanced status for Sleeping Beauty is a milestone — but it’s only the beginning.
With 21 pantomimes heading out for Christmas 2026/27, sustainability will continue to be embedded into creative development from the very earliest stages. Not every production or venue will move through the Theatre Green Book framework at the same pace, and the journey won’t always be linear. New builds will still be required — but they’ll be smarter, more durable and designed for long‑term reuse.
As Sarah Boden reflects:
“Setting off on a journey like this isn’t a five-minute job, but it felt like the natural next step. So, during the 2025/26 panto season, we decided to put it to the test. We’re thrilled with the outcome.”
A Responsibility — Not a Trend
Sustainability in theatre isn’t about following a trend. It’s about responsibility — to our audiences, our teams and the future of the industry.
Sleeping Beauty proves that a glitter‑filled, pyrotechnic‑packed pantomime can achieve Advanced status under the Theatre Green Book. The challenge now is making this approach the norm, not the exception.
And we’re committed to doing exactly that.
