NEW theatre boss Victoria Firth came to Huddersfield to see a show before she was interviewed for her new job and was bowled over by what she found.

"The theatre was all lit up outside. The whole place was really buzzy and beautiful and I thought 'wow'."

That enthusiasm clearly communicated itself to the interview panel who appointed her as the Lawrence Batley Theatre's fourth artistic director and clearly feel that they've got quite a find.

Victoria is originally from Rotherham and still has close family ties there.

But despite being a Yorkshire woman, she's spent much of her professional life working in the Midlands. So far.

What took her south was university in Leicester to study not drama but politics.

"I always had an interest in drama but I was led more into academic subjects.

"It was always my ambition to be in the arts."

Victoria doesn't dodge the fact that in recent times, the LBT has hit troubled waters.

Earlier in the summer, both artistic director Paul Maurel and Kirklees Theatre Trust chairman Denis Ripley left the organisation after it emerged that the theatre was strapped for cash.

Kirklees Council injected an emergency loan of £150,000.

Victoria says: "I'm not daunted by the financial difficulties.

"I'm a good candidate for this job because I've worked in a place with major funding difficulties, a place that had no outside funding. "But it was a huge resource for the community, open seven nights a week, well-used, well respected and making a contribution to the cultural life of the community."

And that is clearly what Victoria sees at the LBT. "I feel that there's huge potential.

"The resource is obvious and so is the demand."

Victoria is still living in Leicester where she is currently artistic director of the community-based Y Theatre. She expects to head north to start her new job at the LBT in early January.

Her route to the top job at the LBT has not, as she herself admits, been a conventional one. But she thinks that her background with its mix of commercial and arts experience, is one that will stand her in good stead.

"After university I went to work in a big call centre in Leicester. I ended up as a trainer there."

It's an experience says Victoria, that has made her very commercially minded and one which also gave her the personnel and management skills which she has gone on to develop in her other jobs.

Oddly enough, it was the offer of redundancy which gave Victoria the chance to make a career switch.

"I took it as an opportunity to do professionally the arts work that I had long been doing in my spare time.

"It was a chance to earn a living doing what I really wanted to do."

And that was clearly arts. "I've always had a very active interest in the arts outside the day job. My ambition was always to be involved in the arts.

"I was involved with various companies in the Midlands, acting directing, stage managing, whatever there was to do. When you are passionate about something, you do whatever is going," she said.

Victoria worked with a number of small-scale theatre companies then moved to Birmingham to work for a pioneering company called Women and Theatre which focuses on contemporary issues particularly those relating to health, education and community development.

"They asked me to go for three months as administrator and I ended up being there for four years. I created a job for myself as general manager and joint chief executive with the artistic director."

Here is where Victoria starts to enthuse about the role of theatre as a means of communication and empowerment. And we talk about what role the arts can and should have within the community.

She is excited by the LBT's history and the sense of commitment it still has from those who worked hard to make it happen.

"It's exciting that the theatre was so called for by the community. If there is so much participation from the amateur companies who use the space then there's a lot of creativity around.

"The venue that I currently work in, the Y Theatre in Leicester, has 300 seats. It doesn't receive any arts council funding. It runs commercially to get the value out of every pound.

"But we don't run an overtly commercial programme. The programme is very diverse."

What Victoria seems to offer, in addition to her business and theatre know-how, seems to be a great deal of commitment and passion.

"I've got a strong sense of family and community from the areas in which I was brought up in," she says.

And for Victoria, that means having pride in the sense of place that an organisation has and a willingness to nurture that.

Sounds like a fresh start for the LBT.