William Reynolds (Oriel, 2002) founded Metta Theatre with his now-wife, Poppy, (St Anne's, 2002) fifteen years ago in their final year at Oxford. Several awards and arts council grants later, they regularly tour the UK and internationally with opera, drama and new large scale musical theatre to regular critical acclaim.
Last month they released an album of a new show they're developing. HouseFire is a eco-musical following a youth-activist rock band raging against the extractivist-capitalist system. The album is available on Spotify and on their website.
At the end of 2018, they joined the inaugural cohort of Arts Council England's Accelerator programme for Creative Climate Leadership. Soon after they founded a group bringing together some of the most important touring companies and venues in the country to raise ambition on sustainability. Will has been working with various trade associations from UK Theatre to the Society of British Theatre Designers to support freelancers and individuals pushing for more environmentally-sustainable practices in their work.
Will and Poppy have also staged Mouthful in the West End, commissioning celebrated international playwrights to work alongside prominent scientists from around the world to collaborate over the global food crisis.
Picture from the Mouthful production. Picture credit: William Reynolds
Will and Poppy are also working with theatres, producers and schools, to harness the power of creativity towards tackling carbon emissions and the climate crisis through Metta Green, an environmental consulting arm of Metta Theatre. They support arts and educational organisations as well as commercial businesses looking to green their operations.
There will be a virtual networking event on Wednesday, January 13th, from 4:00 - 6:00 PM GMT to forge connections between theatre artists and researchers in climate, environment, biodiversity and related fields. Please contact will@mettatheatre.co.uk if you're interested in taking part.