Welcome
2021 has been a year like no other for Lawrence Batley Theatre. We started the year in a challenging world, but the company pulled together and created diverse ways of engaging with audiences, both
A picture of how our year added up
loyal and new. It was a year where we learnt to adapt and flourish.
INCOME: We became a radical new digital producing company, creating online theatre productions that were seen across the world. We curated an outdoor season of entertainment featuring local bands and touring theatre, which culminated in an incredible dance production featuring large scale projection that mapped on to the
OUTGOING:
Ticket Sales 23%
Programming 31%
Grant Income 60%
Staffing 46%
Donations 4%
Building Costs 16%
Other Income 13%
Other Costs 7%
front of the building, making us the loudest and proudest we’ve ever been. Then as things got colder and safer again, we moved back inside trialling socially distanced shows at first, then taking our shows out into the community all the while modernising and learning to engage our audiences in different ways.
A huge thank you goes to our funders, who we couldn’t have done this without. I’d like to invite you to read this annual review and find out how it all went.
Henry Filloux-Bennett Chief Executive & Artistic Director We simply couldn’t be here without our funders. Thank you so much for your ongoing support.
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Over 13,600 households watched our digital productions in over 70 countries
The Picture of Dorian Gray The Guardian The Telegraph
The Reviews Hub Theatre Weekly
"Full of imagination... as slick and refined as a Netflix drama" -The Guardian
People saw our shows from every single continent, from Peru to Portugal and South Africa to Sweden the audience
New York Times Critic’s Pick
loved the productions. We worked with big stars such as Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Mina Anwar, Russell Tovey, Hugh Dennis, Sindhu Vee, Matthew Kelly, Shobna Gulati, Alfred Enoch, Fionn Whitehead and Divina De Campo.
The Importance of Being Earnest The Stage North West End 4
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Theatre Weekly Theatre Reviews North
"A hilarious delight" -The Stage
Going The Distance Opening Night Beyond The Curtain
WhatsOnStage The Reviews Hub
"The sort of cockle-warming evening entertainment that any theatre fan could lap up in spades" -WhatsOnStage
The January Project
Home for Amateur Theatre
Over the course of the year, we were home to so much amateur theatre. With over 3,600 audience members and 32 performances, Lawrence Batley Theatre helped stage locally produced shows.
During January, we created a series of free digital activities to promote positivity throughout the month. Over four weeks we engaged with 2,500 people who participated in many activities, 16 videos and 4 recipes, and much more.
Charlotte Holmes: Top Secret Following on from the success of Charlotte Holmes, this second version of the adventure box was packed full of seven days of entertainment for children aged 9-13. Each day for seven days the player would open an envelope which points them to hidden online content. Every day is different. They were introduced to activities with video tutorials, fun new games, and clues that helped them solve the puzzles and save the day! Over the course of the week they discovered all the information needed to help Charlotte - the only thing they needed to do was piece everything together!
Brilliant fun for all the family The best adventure yet! 6
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We loved it!
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Blindness Our first trial of an indoor socially distanced performance. You stepped in to the theatre and
Summer in the Courtyard
were given a pair of headphones and treated to
From May to the end of August we turned our courtyard into a live music and theatre space, with a special stage and weatherproof modern outdoor furniture. It allowed us to change from being a dominantly indoor theatre into an outdoor entertainment venue, spreading joy through the
an entirely immersive experience. A transfer from
town and being more visible and lively than ever before.
the innovative Donmar Warehouse, Blindness was a special treat for our Yorkshire audience in June who, due to restrictions, may not have been
The seats we bought have set us up for the future, so we’ll
able to travel to see this elsewhere.
be able to have an outdoor season of work every summer well into the future.
Walk This Play In summer ThickSkin, a ground-breaking theatre company based in Manchester, came to Huddersfield and created an audio play. Designed for listeners as they walk, the play was immersive and immediate, transporting you inside the story. Through narration and original music blended with the sights and sounds around you, Walk This Play takes you on a journey of imagination and discovery. This was free to anyone to get involved in, all they needed was a smart phone and a pair of headphones, which they could also borrow from us, if they didn’t have the equipment.
'We love it. Just a warm welcome from the lovely staff and such great sound engineers both times. A massive pleasure and a privilege to be part of it all' - Audience Member
'We really enjoyed playing in the courtyard, thanks for having us on. We’d love to come back and play again.' - Audience Member
'We were so impressed with the organisation and how we were treated during our time working with the Lawrence 8
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Batley Theatre. We would LOVE to work with you again.' - Audience Member
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Walk in My Shoes
Young Company
We partnered with Hoot Creative Arts to bring 10 older people together with 10 teenagers from our groups. They met in our courtyard this summer to share stories and hear from people with different views of the world.
Young Company is a home for our creative young people aged 6-17. Over the year we employed 12 freelance tutors to provide classes for 50 young people.
John & Linda were from the older group, they were missing face-to-face contact with others and prior to this project they had no contact with younger people. Linda, who is living with dementia, was nervous about taking part because she had been isolated for so long. Linda was really impressed with the attitudes of the young people, and they felt it was special to have the chance to communicate with young people with no
After successfully moving classes online during 2020, we remained online for the first term of 2021. We focused first on creating our own retelling of Shakespeare's tragic love-story Romeo & Juliet. And then we took inspiration from the Charlotte Holmes adventure boxes to create our own interactive, online murder mystery for audiences to solve.
boundaries on either side.
When summer term came around, we were able to hold classes in-person outdoor and we created a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with all Young Company members, which we performed to an audience of almost
Huddersfield Vogue Ball
100 in our courtyard. Autumn classes returned to normal, with sessions taking place in the Attic theatre, and for our final term of the year we took inspiration from our pantomime Robin Hood.
This year we staged the first ever House of Blaque and Lawrence Batley Theatre Vogue Ball. Hosted by the glorious Rikki Beadle Blair, the Huddersfield Vogue Ball was streamed live from our main stage and saw six Houses of the Northern Vogue Ball scene battle for runway supremacy. There were 20 performers from the Houses in the Ball alongside 3 additional local performers singer Antonia, DJ Naomi Momoh and spoken word performer Serenity.
“The timing and value of Young Company has been amazing after such a difficult time the lockdown and school closure caused to so many young people. We will never forget the important role you've played in so many ways!” - Young Company Parent
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PopCorn
Macbeth
We commissioned Edinburgh Fringe Favourites Frisky &
In October 2021 over 60 people from our local community
Mannish to create new show, PopCorn, in collaboration
took to our main stage for our community production of
with our team. This world premier was all about how the pair had been repeat-watching favourite movies while
Macbeth. The show ran for 3 nights, and over 700 people
out of work from their stage careers, they explored the
came to see it. We updated Shakespeare’s
best theme tunes ever. We opened our first indoor season
original script, staying true to his iambic
in a year with this fabulous comedy cabaret show, 90%
rhythms and rhymes, but gave it a
of the bookers had never been to our theatre before. As
modern context. Our version took place
well as the live show we created an online film, telling an
in a Primary school; with Mr Macbeth
entertaining version of how the show was made.
embarking on a devious path to becoming Head Teacher. Many of our cast had never performed before, and some were as young as 4-years-old.
Chronicles We teamed up with legendary choreographer Gary Clarke and produced an outdoor site-specific dance theatre performance looking back at the history of the Lawrence Batley Theatre. Built in 1819 as the largest Methodist chapel in the world, it’s been lots of different things through the ages including a home for wayward women, a night club, a restaurant, and a squash club, before it became its most recent reincarnation in 1994 as
“Macbeth was fantastic. It is so wonderful that the local people are being encouraged to get involved in theatre and the arts with support from your professional team. It was very inspiring.” - Audience Member
the theatre we know it as today. The show ran for 5 nights and welcomed an audience of 320 people, half of whom had never seen a Lawrence Batley Theatre show before.
Everybody’s allowed to be involved. The Lawrence Batley Theatre is such a huge part of Huddersfield and such a huge part of it’s history and it’s future. And I think it’s really vital that the community is part of this building. And that
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everybody feels welcome here.” - Audience Member
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Robin Hood
Hyper Local Touring
The merriest panto in the land
In December we took our Christmas show on tour to schools
8 cast members
and libraries across Kirklees. The children who visited Alfie had
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a wonderful time, with lots of them telling us they’d learnt the
8 backstage crew
importance of “being nice” and “telling the truth” from the show.
47 shows over a month
Thanks to our funders we could offer low price and free tickets
13,500 audience members
to the show. This was brilliant for our local communities, who needed that break at an expensive time of year for all families.
63% of capacity filled 40% first time bookers
“The ultimate gem in pantoland’s crown” - Yorkshire Post
“It’s merry, risqué and very funny” - Huddersfield Examiner
Engaging with our local community
North Kirklees
In 2022, we will be working with two inclusion officers. One will focus on developing diverse audiences in North Kirklees and the other South Kirklees. They’re both local people who are
“Fabulous performances and so much fun!” - Audience Member
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“Panto has come back to Huddersfield in a burst of glitter and innuendo” - Huddersfield Times
well connected in their respective communities and eager to work with them to increase engagement in the arts.
South Kirklees
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A Theatre for Tomorrow
For over 25 years, our building has brought the magic of live events to the people of Kirklees and beyond. As you can imagine, we needed a bit of TLC! We raised an incredible amount of cash and managed to transform our auditorium.
Now we’ve got a fresh theatre, comfy new seats with better sight lines, brand new LED lighting, and an upgraded sound system. Our backstage area is refreshed and beautiful for all our performers including a new accessible dressing room. A brand-new community space and a sparkly new lift are also
Stay in touch
on their way!
Website thelbt.org
Facebook /thelbt.org
Instagram lawrencebatleytheatre
Twitter @thelbt