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  • Plasticity: 100 years of Making Plastics

  • Until Jan 1 2009
    • Critics' Choice
  • Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, London, SW7 2DD
  • Science Museum

  • By Sara O’Reilly

    Posted: Mon May 14 2007

  • Artist Fran Crowe from Woodbridge in Suffolk is currently engaged in the process of ‘saving’ one square mile of the ocean by collecting rubbish while she walks on the beaches near her home. Six months into the project she’s walked 79 miles and gathered more than 227kg of rubbish, most of it plastic. She says ‘I keep thinking that it will become more difficult to find rubbish on my local beaches but each time I visit still more has been left behind or washed up. The 33,000 pieces I have collected are literally just a splash in the ocean… It’s a frightening picture of our society that we use so much plastic and dispose of our debris so carelessly’. According to the UN,  there 46,000 pieces of plastic litter per square mile of ocean across the planet and they cause the death of more than 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and a million seabirds each year.

    As our awareness of plastic’s impact on the environment has grown it has come to be seen as a bad guy but that wasn’t always the case, as  an exhibition opening at the Science Museum on Tuesday sets out to demonstrate. Subtitled ‘100 Years of Making Plastics’, the show asks how fantastic plastic really is. It tells the story of Bakelite, the world’s first entirely man-made material, invented in 1907 by Dr Leo Baekeland, a Belgian (British scientist Sir James Swinburne was also working on the formula but Baekeland got there just 24 hours ahead), and the new plastics it paved the way for. The positive impact of the humble plastic bucket on the developing world will be explored in a show that also acknowledges that at the moment fewer than ten per cent of plastics are recycled and looks at the ecological damage done by the material that lasts and lasts.

    The exhibition makes a forceful case for the development of greener plastics (it’s supported by Defra and SITA Trust, which distributes funding to community and environmental projects within ten miles of an active SITA UK landfill site). Alongside a phone, a television, a rare coffin made from Bakelite and iconic items such as ’60s kinky boots, visitors will be able to see Toyota’s i-unit vehicle on display in Britain for the first time, a working chandelier made from hundreds of Bic biros and an office chair designed by Herman Miller that is made from recycled materials and is itself 96 per cent recyclable. The story is brought up to date with a look at cutting-edge uses for plastics, including plastic blood and planes that can change shape during flight to avoid detection.
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8 comments

  1. Posted by Carole on 15 Oct 2008 10:27

    I was hoping the reviews were wrong a bit like Paul Potts - OK not rated by the professionals but loved by Joe public. I’ve been to Sadler’s Wells and seen the ‘real’ thing and wanted to introduce a friend to the passion of Flamenco but this was embarrassing, messy, disjointed to the point where viewing was made much easier the second half as most of the row in front of me didn't came back. Lucky I only paid 1/2 price but would still ask for my money back! Yes Manuel Gutierrez Cabello saved the day in parts but other than that it was like the after dinner show you would see at a Cosmos Hotel in Benidorm…...Craig what were you thinking this is the West End? Peacock Theatre here I come!

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  2. Posted by Joyce Whawell on 10 Oct 2008 20:10

    An excellent performance by the very talented Jenny Harrold. I laughed all the way through. It deserves to be shown at a bigger venue & for evening performances.

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  3. Posted by Joyce Whawell on 10 Oct 2008 20:10

    An excellent performance by the very talented Jenny Harrold. I laughed all the way through. It deserves to be shown at a bigger venue & for evening performances.

    Report this comment as inappropriate
  4. Posted by Ted Runciman on 09 Oct 2008 16:55

    A brilliant and passionate performance by Jenny Harrold as the stage-school drop-out. A real laugh and worth an evening slot to reach a much wider audience. Dont miss an excellent lunch time treat.

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  5. Posted by Gemma Ross on 04 Oct 2008 14:45

    Loved it! The whole idea is so good and funny and it was all done so simply. Why is it on at lunchtime though? It would make such a great evening show.

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  6. Posted by Jackie Kane on 29 Sep 2008 12:50

    As a lunchtime show, bloody loved it! Really simple and well performed. No tricks, not trying too hard, just a funny story told by an engaging little actress. Not a fan of monologues, but this worked.

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  7. Posted by john Chambers on 25 Sep 2008 12:39

    I saw That Moment...by Dougie Blaxland at The Kings Head on Wednesday. It is one of the funniest shows I have seen in ages. Jenny Harrold the solo actor is awesome!

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  8. Posted by charlie on 22 Sep 2008 16:25

    wonderful play , re-enacted genuine conversations recorded in a real brothel in an english sea side town. funny , poignant and thoght provoking.

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