Chairman's welcome

Welcome to the LTG website, if you are viewing this for the first time you may be unaware of who or what the LTG is, which is understandable. The Little Theatre Guild, now known as the LTG, has been in existence since 1946 to represent the views of Amateur theatres across the UK. Our membership extends throughout the UK, plus  some overseas locations. In particular membership of the LTG is open only to those amateur theatres that own or lease the theatre premises upon which productions are mounted. (More information is available from the Secretary).

We currently have in excess of 103 member theatres right across the United Kingdom, ranging from 64 seat auditorium up to 450 seat auditorium. This includes theatres that present only four plays per year to those that present a continuous repertoire. In the last year LTG theatres presented over 850 productions to an audience in excess of 630,000 patrons.

In a world of ever increasing legislation relating to such areas as Health and Safety, Premises licensing, changes to the VAT regime, Children in Performance regulations plus the latest vetting and barring scheme, we are finding that our members value the ‘Grey Papers’ that we produce to explain the law and regulatory requirements.

With our regular national and regional conferences there is the opportunity to network and share experiences, both good and bad, to learn from others experiences that will help theatres to avoid the pitfalls that others have experienced.

As a recognised national body, we are consulted by both the Department for Culture Media and Sports (DCMS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) on matters that affect the amateur theatre sector and our members. We have recently been successful in getting Ministers to accept that the regulatory burdens placed upon the amateur sector are deterring more and more theatres from using children in productions. We therefore hope that the regulations relating to children in performance will be amended, whilst recognising the need to protect children in our theatre members’ care.

Eddie Redfern
Chairman