Leveraging on Eco scenic Design for Environmental Conservation

Abstract

With the dire need for climate action and environmental conservation, Kenyan Theatre Industry is slowly adopting waste reduction practices. Scenic installation and fabrication for productions mostly use a lot of materials that generate a lot of waste, if proper sustainability measures are not taken. Scenic design requires creativity and innovation to develop ideas that are later transformed into realistic builds. Despite environmental campaigns, some productions still lack sustainable production practices, with use of non-recyclable products or set dressings, props and set décor discarded or kept under poor storage after production, thus contributing to ecological harm. Nonetheless, Musical productions like Dedan Kimathi, produced by Woodcreek school in 2024, employed sustainable set design with use of organic materials as props, set dressing and set décor such as palm leaves, bamboo, sisals, paper pots, calabash, and wood among others. Some of these props were later recycled, repurposed, and used in 2025 in the play, In the Name of the Father produced by KCA University and East Africa’s New Groove by Daraja. This paper therefore, examines the pros of using sustainable scenic design in Kenyan Theatre. Qualitative approach was used to examine the sustainability of scenic design, in two Kenyan theatre productions with in-depth interviews conducted with the directors and production designers of the play. Sustainable sets have a lot of pros as follows; creativity enhancement, whereby scenic designers must be innovative, to create aesthetic pieces out of the recycled materials, to avoid duplication. Since In the name of the father was a student project, with limited budget, repurposing helped in cost cutting, and thereby reducing negative environmental impact, due to less wastage. Repurposing was also time saving, the time that would have been used for purchase of materials was put constructively into rehearsals. This was a good trend set for other productions, to also be at the forefront in mitigating negative impacts on the environment. To foster sustainable scenic design in theatre, there should be lasting collaborations between production designers, theatre directors and environmental agencies.