They have certainly splashed out at Huddersfield’s Lawrence Batley Theatre.

Members of the Dick & Lottie company spent hours getting ready for their latest production in the Cellar Theatre.

But it wasn’t a costume issue, or make-up, or the final read-through that posed the most problems for director Dick Cotgrave.

He and his colleagues had to wrestle with the difficult task of building a swimming pool on the stage - and filling it with 8,000 litres of water.

The mammoth task took several hours yesterday as the company put the finishing touches to their production of the Alan Ayckbourn piecve, “Man of the Moment”.

It follows the fortunes of celebrity criminal Vic Parks, who has retired to the sunshine of Spain but then agrees to appear on a celebrity TV game show.

The show opens tonight and runs through to Saturday and it’s thought to be the first time a swim pool has been used in the theatre.

Dick & Lottie is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and are renowned for their take on Ayckbourn’s work.

But for Cotgrave, a drama teacher at Honley High School, the biggest challenge was to get the pool ready.

“It’s our anniversary production and I have really set a challenge.

“The play is set on the patio of a Spanish villa and integral to the play is a swimming pool, in which quite a bit of action takes place.

“I hope it will amaze the audience, after all, how many swimming pools have the LBT had?

“The pool is some 4m x 2m x 1m and that holds about 8,000 litres of water, or 1,800 gallons.

“We issued a plea to people to come along and help us by bringing hosepipes down. I had spoken to a fire brigade chum of mine and he told me it could take anything from three hours to 10 hours to fill, depending on how many hosepipes we could get and on the water pressure.

“Emptying it should be a bit easier; the brigade are lending me a pump and I hope we can get it emptied within the hour”.

The cast comprises John, Richard McArtney, Hannah Head, Louise Munden, Laura Womersley. Craig Squance, Mark Breen and Laura Roberts.

The show starts tomorrow and runs to Saturday.

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