Theatr Iolo achieves highest environmental standard for their show for young audiences.

Theatr Iolo, the children’s theatre company based in Cardiff, first set themselves the ambitious target of achieving the Theatre Green Book Baseline Standard for creating more sustainable theatre productions in 2022. The scheme encourages theatre companies to source 50% of the materials used in the making of a production from reused or recycled sources, with at least 65% of materials to have a life elsewhere following the show. Three years into the scheme, and they have now achieved both the Intermediate and Advanced Standard.

In March 2025, Theatr Iolo re-mounted their show Tidy, a co-production with Polka Theatre, based on the much-loved children’s book by author and illustrator, Emily Gravett. Tidy was performed at venues across Wales and England, alongside Taclus, a Welsh language version of the play. Through careful sourcing of materials, the design and production team for Tidy | Taclus ensured that 97% of materials used in re-mounting the show had a previous life. Further more, an impressive 100% of the materials have gone on to have a future life after the production. These percentages led to the production achieving the Green Theatre Book Advanced Standard.

Following the success of Tidy | Taclus, Theatr Iolo went on to tour their show for babies aged 6-18 months, which was first created by Sarah Argent and Kevin Lewis in 2020. Five years on and the production team for Baby, Bird & Bee | Babi, Aderyn a’r Wenynen, were able to ensure that 68% of materials used in the show had a previous life, whilst 100% of materials have now gone on to have a future life. These percentages led to the production achieved the Green Theatre Book Intermediate Standard.

Baby, Bird & Bee | Babi, Aderyn a’r Wenynen 2025

“It’s incredibly important for us to be making our productions more environmentally friendly and to share this with our young audiences. Over the last 3 years, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to track the process of making our shows and ensure we’re making sustainable choices when creating new work and thinking about the future life of costumes, sets and props.”
Michelle Perez, Executive Director

Theatr Iolo are committed to achieving at least the Baseline Standard for all new shows and at least Intermediate standard for any remounted show. To read more about Theatr Iolo’s Environmental Pledge, visit theatriolo.com/environmental-pledge. To find out more about Theatre Green Book initiative, visit theatregreenbook.com.