The National Youth Music Theatre has closed and all its staff has been paid off.
The decision to close the company was made by its board because of major financial problems which have been growing since Andrew Lloyd Webber's sponsorship ended four years ago. However the company is not being wound up and the board hopes to be able to come to an accommodation with its creditors which will allow it to resume its work to get out of the current financial difficulty.
The company's chair, Maggie Semple, told The Stage newspaper that the company would have started trading insolvently if they had not taken immediate action.
The company had been working on reducing costs for some time and it is understood that there has been some dissension between the staff and the board, and within the board itself, over the direction which the company should take.