UK’s First Recycled Theatre Built in Southwark

The UK’s first fully-functioning theatre made entirely from recycled and reclaimed materials will be unveiled this summer in Southwark, where it will showcased as part of the London Festival of Theatre and then opened for a limited six-week season of performances before being dismantled.

The Jellyfish Theatre – which is designed by Berlin-based architects Köbberling and Kaltwasser and will be erected in a playground – is the brainchild of theatre company The Red Room, working in collaboration with the Architecture Foundation. Local residents and visitors are invited donate materials for the theatre and can also volunteer as builders, carpenters and unskilled hands during construction workshops on 3 and 4 July.

The Jellyfish will be built at the Marlborough Playground, 11-25 Union Street, Southwark, London SE1

During July, the theatre will be exhibited as part of the city-wide London Festival for Architecture. In August, it will then open to theatregoers for a six-week season of two specially commissioned play premieres examining how our society may have to adapt in order to survive the future: Oikos by Simon Wu (26 August-18 September) and Protozoa by Kay Adshead (23 September-9 October).

“Oikos” (pronounces ee-kos) is the root word of economy and ecology. The construction of the theatre and the launch of the themed season collectively runs under the name “The Oikos Project” and is presented by The Red Room with the Architecture Foundation in association with youth culture charity The Junction.

According to the press release, this is “a unique mix of public-made art, architecture and performance that explores how a new sustainable society can flourish in a world altered by climate change”. The Jellyfish Theatre is non-permanent and will be taken down in October.