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NS Pantomimes - gone belly up.


Ynot

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Just seen a report in The Stage about NS Pantomimes going belly-up and leaving cast (at least) out of pocket as well as the pop-up venue company Neptunus with 1/3 of what they were owed left unpaid. No direct mention of tech staff being in a similar situation, and BECTU have commented that they don't know of any members who are in that situation (though they want to know if there are).

 

Anyone here affected by this at all?

 

Ironically on that page in The Stage there's a pop-up as a 'you might also be interested in...' which takes you to the review of the panto involved back in December...

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One of the (many) reasons they went tits up is because of the lack of proper business or production structure to how they operated so, fortunately, the number of people directly impacted by their collapse is limited compared to the 100 or so people who worked on other panto's in the region.
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This is only now making the news, for some reason - but it happened last month. Lots of grumbling on Twitter from actors who hadn't been paid by the company.

 

Strangely, NS Pantomimes Ltd (along with Nice Swan Academy Ltd, its 'sister company') is still showing as 'active' on the Companies House website. How long does it take for the data on there to update, I wonder?

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They've said the company doesn't even have the money to appoint a liquidator so unless one of the creditors does (which would be throwing away money as there clearly aren't any assets to liquidate) then the company will only be struck off a year or so after they miss the deadlines for filing annual returns at companies house.
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Strangely, NS Pantomimes Ltd (along with Nice Swan Academy Ltd, its 'sister company') is still showing as 'active' on the Companies House website. How long does it take for the data on there to update, I wonder?

 

Here's the answer, from the article:

 

“Unfortunately the company has insufficient releasable assets and no funds with which to appoint an insolvency practitioner and thereby initiate a voluntary liquidation,” the letter said, adding that the company would now lie in limbo until struck off by Companies House or wound up by a creditor.

 

Companies House will eventually strike off if accounts or confirmation statements aren't submitted. For a creditor, winding the company up would be pointless if there aren't any assets to go after. The cost of doing so is non-trivial so nobody is going to do it purely out of spite.

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I know a few people affected by this one. Almost joined this group as an MD (musical director) maybe 10yrs ago. Just another case of drama students starting a business, I think. I'm a good musician and an artist but crap with money. Let other people do that for me!

 

Been hurt before - (not with this group) - having to pay a band's work for a week out of my own pocket stings a bit... Same sort of situation, though.

 

I get the desire to be a professional company; but sometimes you can get better results money-wise, and not lose anything on the quality of performance by staying 'amateur', or 'charity'. Some of the pro-am shows, in the NE, at least, are great. I know tech suppliers and musicians will do it for a little less and still give a great show. Helps that in a good amateur theatre group, you'll tend to get talented professionals in law, business, and everything else that artists aren't good at; not just a load of artists.

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