A BUSINESSMAN with a background in theatre is helping to put a Huddersfield company at the top of the bill.

Matt Cleve has taken the stage as learning development director for Juice Learning.

And the skills he honed running professional shows have provided an ideal experience for dealing with the challenges thrown up in the business world.

Says Matt: My mother had a theatrical background. She was a ballet dancer. My grandmother was a seamstress at Covent Garden.

I was born in North Lincolnshire and after leaving school I went to work at Lincoln Theatre Royal on the technical side of things. I also went on tour with various shows as stage manager.

The theatre at Lincoln was a touring house which meant we would have a new show every week. That meant being able to deal with problem-solving and finding solutions, thinking on your feet and working to deadlines.

It was always fun working with talented professionals whether thats the performers or the specialists in different fields behind the scenes. You had to work together to get a show on. If you didnt do your job, the performers couldnt go on stage and do their job.

Matt worked with stars including magician Paul Daniels and during panto season actors such as former Emmerdale favourite Fraser Hines and Anne Charleston, who played Madge in Neighbours.

Now Matt has put those theatrical experiences to good use in the field of training and development as a partner and director of Juice Learning.

He is joined in the venture by sales and marketing director Morgan Wilson, client services director Claire Awty and creative director Mark Knight.

The company, based in sprawling Brookes Mill in the centre of Armitage Bridge, use techniques including theatre, film, e-learning and live workshops to provide training to companies and other organisations in areas such as customer excellence, equality and diversity awareness, behavioural health and safety and leadership.

The team designs each programme individually to suit a clients requirements and give employees the skills, knowledge and the motivation to make a positive and lasting difference to the organisation.

Clients include Scottish and Southern Energy, Barclaycard, The Premier League and Football League, Broker Network, Yorkshire Housing, South Tyneside Homes, Plymouth Community Homes and various NHS Trusts.

For the football authorities, Juice Learning produced an NVQ Level 2 training pack for stadium stewards which is now used by 120 clubs across the country.

Our strength is our range of skills, says Matt. I started doing this kind of thing about 10 years ago. As a team, we have a lot of experience in designing and running training programmes for all sorts of companies in both the public and the private sectors.

Marks media skills mean we can provide a blended form of training encompassing live film and animation as well as theatre.

Matt says business is brisk despite the generally-held view that companies cut back on training and development during difficult times.

We are busy, he says. We havent had to worry where the next job is coming from. Companies that have survived the recession have come out stronger , but they face new challenges. They also know their workers have to be ready for those challenges.

Companies are looking for cost-effective ways to carry out training, which is where we have been successful. Five years ago, companies would put money into conferences and big all-singing-and-dancing events.

Now they want a solution that is sustainable over time. They want to convey information to their workforce, customers and stakeholders.

There are some organisations that run along traditional lines and dont understand that things need to be run differently to the way they were 30 years ago.