Spotlight on…LAWRENCE BATLEY THEATRE

Photo credit: Mark Bickerdike

Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield opened officially on 11 September 1994, with Sir Patrick Stewart cutting the ribbon and Dame Judi Dench laying the foundation stone and therefore recently celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. It is named after Lawrence Batley, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist, who founded a nationwide cash and carry chain. It is a relatively young venue compared to many in the UK, although the building was originally built in 1819 as a Methodist Chapel, called the Queen Street Chapel.

In 1973, the building was converted into an arts centre but was then converted to a squash club known as The Ridings and housed a restaurant and disco. In 1989, the Kirklees Theatre Trust were given the go ahead to save the building from deterioration and launch Huddersfield's newest theatre. Building work for the theatre started in September 1992 and took years to complete. The result was a Main House seating 459 people, the Cellar Theatre with up to 120 seats and the Attic Theatre with up to 60 seats. The Theatre also has meeting and function rooms, a Gallery space and a café bar.

It now hosts a wide-ranging year-round programme of the best contemporary dance shows, quality touring dramas and top comedians as well as hosting community musicals, and great evenings of music and cabaret. Its stated mission is to be the creative heart of Huddersfield. Over the financial year 2023 - 24, they welcomed more than 73,000 people into the theatre and hosted over 450 performances, workshops and events. It supports young people, nurtures talented local artists and welcome refugees and asylum seekers with open arms. They work with Dark Horse, a theatre company that exists to create and find equal opportunities for people with learning disabilities to train and work in the performing arts.

Chief Executive Becky Dash described the challenge of being at the heart of Huddersfield’s cultural life: “As the only professional theatre in Kirklees, we have a real responsibility to ensure the people of our town and surrounding area have access to world class entertainment and facilities on their doorstep.

Photo credit: Daniel Johnson Gray

“We firmly believe that our town deserves to have the very best; you shouldn’t have to travel to a big city or pay inflated prices to see great quality shows. Last year, our average ticket price was budget friendly at less than £18. We provide permanent secure jobs right here for 30 people and have an enthusiastic team of 80+ volunteer stewards. Through our outreach initiatives, we are changing the perception that theatre is an elitist institution. I am incredibly proud of the work that this theatre has achieved over the last 30 years, it has consistently punched above its weight, adapted to challenge and done everything with the aim of making our community proud.”

In 2016, they staged the very first in-house produced pantomime, Cinderella, and have continued to stage the annual Christmas production ever since . This December, it is Dick Whittington which plays from 2-31 December and runs for 49 performances, written by the wonderful Andrew Pollard, and directed and choreographed by Rachel Gee. In 2022, Becca-Lee Issacs won Best Newcomer for her role in Robin Hood at the UK Pantomime Awards, Ben Richards was nominated for Best Script and Best Direction for the production, and the whole show was nominated for Best Pantomime (under 500 seats). Thanks to generous donations to the Christmas Heroes scheme, they were able to invite nearly 600 people to feel the joy of panto.

In the year to 31 March 2023, the turnover was £1.9m with around 50% from box office income and £710k from grants, but rising costs led to an overall deficit for the year of £215k, reflecting the challenges of running a small venue at this time. It secured renewal of its NPO status for 2023 to 2026 from the Arts Council of England. They produced three entertaining professional shows of their own: Jesus, Jane, Mother & Me, Blood Harmony and the annual pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk.

The theatre has an established green team with representatives from different teams across the company to drive forward efforts to reduce the venue’s carbon footprint. One of the biggest energy savings that the theatre has brought in is the move to LED lighting, which saves on average 13,500 kilowatts of electricity per year. By the end of 2024, all public areas of the theatre will have 100% LED lighting.

Photo credit: David Lindsay

Becky Dash said: “The environmental agenda is of huge importance to us. Our grade II listed building presents huge restrictions in terms of energy efficiency, for example our windows are all single glazed and insulation is minimal. The team are all trained in carbon literacy, and I am proud that we have advocates making a difference in every department. This year we inspired audiences to think more green through multiple shows about protecting the environment.”

During Covid, the venue innovated with digital projects. Within days of closing the doors, it launched LBTV - a free platform of creative content reaching over 20,000 people. 1,000 young people got involved with an Arts Award Young Company for Charlotte Holmes. They produced seven brand new digital shows which have been viewed by audiences in over 70 countries across the globe. Their digital production created with support of eleven other regional venues of Going the Distance earned five-star reviews. Going The Distance was a new play written by Henry Filloux-Bennett and Yasmeen Khan, and was an insightful, truthful, and engaging comedy about a small regional theatre trying to survive and the people whose lives revolve around it. As one character observed “telling stories is the best job in the world” and wondered how to get people to “come in and see the magic that happens here”. There was a strong supporting cast of auditionees, ballet dancers and munchkins who added to the rich diverse comic feel with digs about corporate sponsorship and equality and diversity issues that must be such a focus of regional venues post lockdown.

As during Covid, there are big challenges running regional theatres in the current environment of rising costs and an absence of weeklong drama, so the programming is dependent on comedy and music one nighters and a very successful pantomime run. Lawrence Batley Theatre is tackling these challenges with a full schedule and a strong engagement with its community and together, we hope it will find a more sustainable financial model.

Nick Wayne

Nick has been involved in Producer and Venue Organisations for twenty-five years, seen over 1200 productions, visited over 160 of the UK Venues and invested in over 30 West End Productions.