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'Brilliant' theatre honoured with national award

Stuart George,BBC Radio Stokeand
Alex McIntyre,West Midlands
Press Association A man wearing a flat cap, black jacket, white shirt and black trousers, holds a small award, made of yellow, orange and brown circular shapes on a wooden stand. He is standing next to a larger version of the model, and a woman with long brown hair and a black dress is standing on the other side. Behind them is a large white board with brand names on it.Press Association
Conrad Nelson and Jane Bailey, of Claybody Theatre, collected the award at the ceremony in London

The co-artistic director of a theatre based in a former potbank shed has hailed it as a "brilliant" space after it won a national award.

Claybody Theatre has been based at the Dipping House at the old Spode Works ceramics factory in Stoke-on-Trent since 2017.

It transformed the disused industrial building into a permanent 130-seat theatre after a decade of producing work in temporary spaces.

On Monday, Claybody Theatre received the honour for Great Found Space at the Great British Theatres Awards, which were held in London.

The venue was praised by the awards for having a home that strengthens the city's cultural offer and demonstrating the potential of repurposed buildings.

Co-artistic director Deb McAndrew told BBC Radio Stoke they did not expect to win because of the strong competition.

On the theatre itself, she said: "It's just a brilliant, beautiful old bit of potbank. We love it and our audiences love it."

A man and a woman sit on chairs on a small stage in front of an audience. The wall behind them is brickwork and there is a large red curtain on the right side.
Actor Toby Jones, pictured with Deb McAndrew, is the patron of Claybody Theatre

McAndrew, who founded Claybody with fellow artistic director Conrad Nelson, described the theatre as a "very democratic" and accessible space.

"There are lots of people in a place like Stoke-on-Trent who don't feel like theatre is for them," she added. "They don't feel that theatre buildings are a threshold they can cross.

"It's a shame because there are some fantastic theatres in the area."

To try and encourage more people through the doors who otherwise would not usually go to a theatre, McAndrew said they kept prices as low as they could so "cost isn't a barrier to access".

She also said there was no "cultural barrier", adding: "Every person in north Staffordshire is one person away from Spode.

"They either knew someone who worked here or they worked here themselves or their granny worked here."

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