Not quite “Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane”, but close!!

Over the last 3 years I, along with a number of actors, have travelled thousands of miles to every corner of Scotland delivering theatre shows to 80,000 young people in High Schools and Academies.

         

The impact of these tours has undoubtedly been beneficial for the young people, schools, teachers and their communities. The plays have raised awareness of issues such as knife crime, gambling, alcohol and friendship/responsibility.

The School Theatre Projects have engaged new audiences and introduced them to high quality Peer Theatre which has been created for and by young people, and addresses the issues that young people face today in Scotland.

Along with the benefits of these tours, there has also another impact- the environmental one. Although every consideration was made about this, when leasing suitable vehicles for the tours, scheduling the performances and hotel stays, and mapping the shortest routes possible. However, over 58,000 miles were travelled in the tour vehicles, over 700 nights were stayed in hotels, and 2 flights and 22 ferries were taken. All of these have had an impact on the environment, and I started to consider what action could be done to counter some of this.

        

“It’s been an incredible experience to perform & travel all over Scotland, & to know that the environmental impact is being offset, feels really good too. I’m looking forward to visiting the trees sometime.”

Suzanne O’Brien, Actor, Balisong ’19, ’20 & Trust Me

The theatre projects posed questions about personal and collective responsibility to the young audiences, I believe it is only right that at Fast Forward we take responsibility for the impact these projects have made on the environment.

In July 2020, a small grove of 21 trees was donated to Trees for Life, where they will be part of the re-wilding of the Scottish Highlands. The trees in our grove will be carefully planted in protected sites, where they will create homes for wildlife and forests for the future. The location of the Fast Forward grove will be to the west of Loch Ness, grid reference NH330187 or on “What 3 Words”: https://w3w.co/gather.into.stupidly

Over the life of the trees, they will replace over and above the amount of carbon that was used during the tours. A hope would be that future projects will be able to follow suit and the Fast Forward grove can become a wood or even a forest.

If you would like to contribute to the Fast Forward grove by donating a tree, please follow this link: Fast Forward Grove

Kai Peacock, Fast Forward, Arts Project Director