The UK performance arts scene has been on its knees over the past five years.
Government funding cuts, increased energy bills and the impact of both the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis on audience figures have decimated the industry, with hundreds of theatres across the country at risk of closure, according to The Independent.
It should come as no surprise that many local theatre venues in Greater Manchester are also at risk, threatening further limitations to community arts which are already severely underfunded and undervalued.
So it’s refreshing to come across The Empty Space, a thriving community arts studio nestled away in an industrial park in Media City, the name a likely nod to the original state of the venue when first purchased in 2016.
Jo Fisher, the venue’s founder and co-director, said: “It was an empty space. It was an empty shell. It was an industrial unit. There was literally nothing.”
But Fisher and her business partner, co-director Sue Hibbert, along with a little support from family and friends, and the surrounding businesses in the industrial park, transformed the modest, unassuming building into a real and thriving 155-seat ‘black-box’ performance arts venue, which comes equipped with a charming café/bar, creating two businesses out of one venture.
For those unfamiliar with the term ‘black-box’, it is a simple, flexible performance space, typically a square room with black walls, floor and ceiling.
This allows for a variety of staging arrangements and flexibility for what can be produced in this environment, something certainly reflected in The Empty Space’s range of clientele.
Fisher said: “The most organic thing that’s happened, which I have not seen in any other space in the north, is this is such a diverse space.”
Past performances have included Iranian classical music, Andalusian flamenco, Ukrainian comedy, Cantonese drama, Jewish community theatre, LGBTQ performances, gaming podcasts and more.
There have been notable names too.
Actor Sue Jenkins held a fringe performance here, filmmaker Kane Dunn held an event and podcast on the history of Mancunian black music, Olivier award-winning playwright Jim Cartwright showcased a comedy drama, and Mancunian rapper Aitch and UFC fighter Leon Edwards held a social media event.
Jess Doherty, the venue manager, described the community spirit facilitated here as a result of the diversity in productions.
“Something quite good about here is, if someone comes to one show because, say, they’ll have a family member or friend in it, they’ll come to that one show, and then you’ll see them again a couple weeks later.
“And they don’t know anyone in that show, but they’ll still come, and then they’ll come again and again.
“And there’s people who will come regularly just to see theatre. Some of it isn’t in English, and yet they’ll still come because they want to experience all the different things we do here.”
Something else that draws the community back again and again is the high-quality, affordable food and drink at their café/bar EATS.
From toasties and sandwiches to Asian-inspired street food, a range of hot drinks, soft drinks and alcohol, and notably free food for dogs, the café is always busy with workers from the neighbouring businesses, dog walkers and Deliveroo drivers even if there’s no event on.
This is not the pair’s only professional endeavour together and it shows, as they both run the affordable and accessible performance arts school Footlights, founded by Fisher in 2005, with 18 franchises country-wide.
Describing themselves as each other’s “yin and yang”, Hibbert is the organisational, logistical mind while Fisher is the creative.
Fisher credited Hibbert as the turning point for Footlights’ ever growing success, and for giving Fisher more time to focus on her passions, using performance arts in schools as a tool for transferrable skills and education.
Since Hibbert joined Fisher and the Footlights team in 2012, Fisher has been able to create a range of engaging educational productions on varying subjects, from historical topics like World War I to current or local issues like child exploitation and Salford gang culture.
One that is closest to Fisher’s heart is a play on domestic violence, And Then You Kissed Me, which she debuted at another studio ten years ago in 2015, and was the final reason for the push to open their own venue.
Fisher said: “It had taken me two years to research victims of domestic violence all round Salford, and I wrote this play and the tech wasn’t up to it.”
Hibbert said: “Every time we put anything on, we had to rehearse it somewhere. And every time we had to rehearse we had to go and find a church hall or school room somewhere, and it was like we needed somewhere to have as our own space.”
The frustrating experiences pushed Fisher to take matters into her own hands and when consulting her business partner, Hibbert asked what they would do. Fisher responded: “We’re going to build a theatre.”
Almost ten years later – having opened The Empty Space and cultivated an environment that allows a range of creativity to thrive – Fisher is ready to re-showcase And Then You Kissed Me, under her control and in her own studio.
A full-circle moment for the duo and The Empty Space, and a milestone for Fisher’s creative career.
The production will be on in September this year at The Empty Space, 38 Kansas Avenue, Salford M50 2GL.
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