What is Kilter and what does it do?

We are a devised site-specific theatre company based in Bath that promotes sustainable living. Oliver Langdon, Caroline Garland and Claire Wyatt are the founders and joint directors and all three of us are experienced theatre practitioners and professionals in the field of sustainable development. Kilter specialises in creating site-specific, devised theatre that engages audiences in issues surrounding the environment, social justice and English heritage. We aim to redefine theatre as a widely accessible, participatory and change driving experience. We want to physically and mentally involve the audience, igniting their imaginations, encouraging debate and positive change for themselves, their community and the rest of the world.

Our 2007 production, Remote Patrol, was based in the Bath Abbey Cemetery and won us major acclaim and the continued support of the Arts Council-funded Debut Project for new and emerging theatre companies. In our 2008 show, Back on Track, audiences were invited to join us on their bikes on the old Bath-Bristol railway path. Together they peddled into a world imaginatively forged from the inspiring stories of the path itself. Earlier this year we created The Little Month which was commissioned by the egg. It was a month long theatrical exploration of Bath heritage and sustainability for children. We wrote a book to accompany the piece and the children followed clues to find each day’s bespoke performance.

We’re currently rehearsing for our fourth major show, Roots, supported by the Arts Council (28th – 31st May, 4th – 7th June 2009. Box office: 01225 386 777)

What do you mean by site-specific?

The work we create is generated in response to the site that we chose to use and the work is directly related to what we find there. For instance, for Roots we wanted to create a show on an allotment and this linked well with our interest in food security in a world without oil. When we devise at the site we respond to the stimulus that we find there. For example, a person who uses the site may tell us a story that we end up using, or words on a sign may generate text that we use in the final piece.

Why do you do site-specific work? What are the benefits?

Just like when you’re a child, you tend to remember things, and learn them faster, when you’re doing them rather than being told about them. So, we want to engage our audiences with theatre and the subject matter in a new, dynamic and exciting way that is hopefully more memorable than some traditional theatre styles. We often choose sites that are a challenge in some way so that the audiences leave with a sense of achievement after their Kilter experience. We’re also keen to stimulate the audience on their journey to the site so that that their engagement with our themes starts before the show.

Site specific – or site-responsive work which is more accurately what we do – also means undertaking a good degree of research into the site we’re using and the people that have interacted with it over the years. We use this research to build characters, inform narrative, select verbatim quotes and use the found items along the way as props or as inspiration for props. All this combines to create a show that is hopefully more rooted in its subject matter, evokes a more personal response to the issues for the audience member and also has a much lower environmental footprint than conventional theatre based works (using lights and sets etc).

How does your work change people’s attitude towards sustainable living or other environmental issues?

We can never know how aware people are of sustainable issues before they come to one of our shows. We work very hard not to preach at people or act like we have all the answers. Our main focus in the final performance is to inspire debate between audience members or to empower them to take action in their lives for a positive, healthier future. Our interactive approach aims to enable people to engage more practically with the themes in our shows.

Do you walk your talk environmentally?

Most definitely yes! Within reason! We walk to work, we try to eat seasonally and collaborate with local businesses. We do our best to only use objects found during our research and devising process as props and sets. In fact this year we are collaborating with Recycled Venues who will be creating a shed for us out of recycled materials found around Bath for our summer production, Roots. We endeavour to keep printing to a minimum (always using recycled paper) and, as our work is mostly open air, we don’t have huge lighting and electricity bills. We run an economically and environmentally sustainable business. Our biggest challenge to overcome is to encourage our audience members to embrace our values. For example, one of the major impacts of our shows is our audiences travelling to come and see us. We’d love to encourage people to walk, cycle, use public transport or lift share.