— “Theatre and the arts is an incredible way for people to experience empathy, not just with other people and other stories, but with concepts that might feel a bit more abstract, like the environment.” —
— Melissa Cameron, A Fool's Company founder
Impact
The reframing of civic education as an imaginative, community-driven story bridges the gap between policy and everyday life.
This approach was recognised at the 2024 Tāmaki Makaurau Zero Waste Awards, where A Fool’s Company and EcoMatters jointly won for outstanding community engagement in the Food Scraps Rollout.
Free or subsidised shows has enabled access for diverse communities, including performances at kura, local festivals, and whānau days such as Corban Estate and Te Pou’s Kōanga Whānau Day.
As of October 2024, the show had performed 75 times, reaching over 11,000 children and 500 adults.
Free or subsidised shows has enabled access for diverse communities, including performances at kura, local festivals, and whānau days such as Corban Estate and Te Pou’s Kōanga Whānau Day.
As of October 2024, the show had performed 75 times, reaching over 11,000 children and 500 adults.
Influence
The success has led to renewed funding, allowing free performances across the region and expansion into recycling education. Beyond schools, the company’s recycling-focused shows appear regularly in Auckland’s arts and community calendar, including local theatre venues and family-focused events, helping normalise environmental messages as part of everyday cultural life.
Organisation
A Fool’s Company is an Auckland-based theatre collective known for its humorous style, that blends clowning, circus, and physical theatre techniques for their original performances. The company has an educational branch, A Fool’s Community, through which they worked with Auckland Council and EcoMatters Environment Trust to bring stories to tamariki in Tāmaki Makaurau that are deliberately comedic and interactive yet layered with social commentary.
Through this collaboration, the company has been able to bring theatre into community arts initiatives as an educational tool that young children can access and directly participate in. Its creative approaches are used in educational and engagement projects such as Auckland’s Food Scraps Service rollout and Recycle Right campaign, applying theatrical storytelling to civic communication.
The aim of the show is to teach children about the rukenga kai (food scraps) service, encourage them to separate their waste correctly, and help them understand the environmental benefits of keeping food scraps out of landfill.
Purpose
Context and challenges
Auckland’s food scraps collection service, introduced in 2023, was one of the largest waste initiatives in Australasia. However, uptake was uneven:
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Uptake rates in some South Auckland neighbourhoods were low, with only a few bins visible on collection days.
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Pacific and multigenerational households faced practical challenges such as managing larger food volumes and limited space.
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Confusion and disengagement existed around why residents were being asked to separate food scraps, especially amid rate increases and other service changes like proposed fortnightly rubbish collection.
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Some residents cited smell, insects, and uncertainty around composting as deterrents.
Auckland Council acknowledged the need for deeper and more culturally attuned community engagement and began working with diverse partners to localise messaging.
A different type of engagement
A Fool’s Company delivered a theatre-based method to public education. Instead of leaflets or seminars, the troupe devised a child-focused interactive play about “Sammy the Sandwich” getting lost in landfill and being rescued by “Freddy the Food Scraps Fairy”. The show toured Auckland schools, using physical theatre, clowning techniques, and audience interaction to make the environmental message tangible for tamariki.
This creative strategy turned abstract environmental policy into an emotional, story-driven experience. By making children laugh and empathise with characters, the team built lasting memory links - students would go home explaining the story (and recycling lesson) to their parents, extending impact across households. Each performance was followed by a question and answer session, where tamariki had the chance to ask any questions about the themes of the show, as well as how the show was made. Teachers received follow up learning resources so that conversations about what was experienced during the show could be continued in the classroom.
Why
it works
Where council messaging focused on compliance and information, A Fool’s Company’s work relied on culture and emotion. Their method:
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Simplified technical concepts (methane, food recovery) through metaphor and humour.
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Embedded the change message in creativity and play, aligning with Māori and Pasifika oral traditions of storytelling as well as young people who may have more kinesthetic and visual learning styles.
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Reached children and families who might otherwise ignore conventional outreach