BATS Theatre’s new play Heat starts this Friday, and has been selling itself on an unusual point: "eco-theatre". The show’s lights and sound will be completely off-grid, and the preparations for the sustainable energy sources were visible over the weekend.

Heat warming up

Such a ploy could come across as gimmicky, but it’s designed to mimic the constraints of its setting, an Antarctic survival capsule. And with talent such as playwright Lynda Chanwai-Earle and composer Gareth Farr involved, it’s bound to have a lot of appeal, and one of the actors even has the appropriate name Brian Hotter.