Pop-up Shakespeare theatre bosses deny leaving actors and crew unpaid

Equity said last week that 76 of its members had been “left unpaid and without pension contributions” after working for Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, which put on shows in Oxfordshire and York this year. The theatre has since been liquidated. Parent company Lunchbox Theatre Productions, which has gone into administration, said Equity’s statement was “misleading”. It said producers believed a small number of actors who had been paid via invoices rather than through the payroll were owed money for a cancelled season in the Phillipines, and that it was working with liquidators to clarify the pension contributions situation.