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.