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Recession bites as theatre suffers first major casualty

Published Wednesday 10 June 2009 at 13:30 by Matthew Hemley

The theatre industry has suffered its first major victim of the recession, after CragRats - one of the UK’s biggest employers of performers in the corporate and education sectors - went into receivership earlier this week.

Around 400 actors and practitioners are feared to be out of work after the company was forced to call in administrators, following which a decision was made on Monday for the company to cease trading.

As The Stage went to press, staff from the company - which has around 80 full-time employees in its headquarters in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, and a further 300 performers on its books for the various projects it runs - were due to meet to hear formally about its future.

Senior manager Claire Awty told The Stage that staff based in the headquarters had been sent home until then and that all parts of the business, including an in-house theatre space and a youth theatre, were closed.

Awty admitted that the company had been struggling financially for the past few months, with managers implementing a four-day week to office-based staff earlier this year, in an attempt to prevent job losses. She said everything “had happened so fast” and claimed some staff were now looking into the possibility of rescuing the company themselves.

“We are all meeting to find out what is going to happen, but it has gone into receivership. There are some of us now who are trying to see if there is anything we can do to rescue it,” she said. “We have got clients I am speaking to, wondering why it has all gone so quiet and they want to know how they can help, and how they can make sure it does not happen.”

Meanwhile, the company’s performance teams working around the UK have been informed they will no longer be completingtheir contracts with various organisations, except those working for Stimulated Patients UK, a CragRats training initiative offered to health care organisations, whose contract with the NHS will be honoured.

Performers were contacted on Tuesday via an email, seen by The Stage, from CragRats’ casting manager Lauren Tritton.

In it, she said: “It is with regret that I have to inform you, that as of today, CragRats has gone into receivership and will cease to trade,” before thanking the performers for their support over the three years she has worked for the company.

However, many performers are now concerned that they will not receive outstanding pay. One, who did not want to be named, is owed more than £1,000 and said: “I don’t think I will see any of that. I can’t get through to speak to anybody in the offices. It’s all really confusing because, as far as we were told, the company was fine.”

CragRats was formed in 1989 to deliver learning and communication programmes to schools and businesses using actors. Over its 20-year history, the company has worked with organisations such as BT and Diageo. It was named in the 2006 Sunday Times Top 100 best companies to work for and is one of the biggest employers of performers in the UK, particularly drama school graduates looking for their first step on the performing ladder, with alumni including Coronation Street actress Suranne Jones.

It is understood that the company had several lucrative contracts due to start in September and had been hoping to be lent money to see it through until then.

However, with the tough financial climate, the company was not able to secure the funds and was forced to call in administrators.

News of its closure has prompted councillors in the Holmfirth area to see if they can save the company.

Councillor Donald Firth told The Stage:”We don’t want it to go. CragRats provides jobs in Holmfirth, it provides business and brings money into the area. If it’s possible to keep it going, we will.”

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