“When we closed… we didn’t have enough money in the bank to see us through. We could have paid April’s wages… but we wouldn’t have been able to pay May’s.”
Writer and artistic director Henry Filloux-Bennett's digital journey back from the brink
The Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield has had a good Covid. But it needn’t have turned out that way.
“When we closed,” says artistic director Henry Filloux-Bennett, “we didn’t have enough money in the bank to see us through. We could have paid April’s wages for everyone, but we wouldn’t have been able to pay May’s.”
It was a grim time when some venues, such as the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton, went under for good. Henry and his Board and senior management team at the Lawrence Batley Theatre decided that if the worst happened, they’d rather go out in a blaze of glory than slowly bleed to death.
“We accepted that if we were going to hit the wall, we were going to hit the wall telling stories and being exciting and doing stuff.”
Fortunately, according to Henry, the cavalry arrived.
“Kirklees Council have been absolutely astonishing, and I genuinely don’t think we would be here without them. They said: ‘We understand that there’s a place…