What’s going on at the Abbey?
Signatories asked about the criteria for remounting shows, which reduced the opportunities for new shows, and “a perception that the only shows being brought back are yours?” [meaning co-director Graham McLaren]. The Abbey said it remounted financially viable shows.
The meetings ended with what reads like an impassioned speech by an Abbey representative about its “desire to work with the sector in an open and transparent way”, saying “there has been a genuine attempt by the national theatre to engage”. This led to a “heated exchange” between a couple of signatories’ representatives and one of the directors .
In October, long before the summer meetings’ minutes had been agreed, Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan, on a visit to the theatre, said she was happy with how it had responded to controversies. “I think it has been a real demonstration of collaboration between theatre practitioners, between the Abbey and various other stakeholders and I’m happy to have facilitated that conversation.” It was “an ongoing conversation. It is not something that has an end point at any stage.
The Abbey Theatre’s production of Edna O’Brien novel The Country Girls, which ran earlier this year. Photograph: Ros Kavanagh The theatre’s 2018 accounts, filed in late October, showed €12.2 million income, including €7million Arts Council funding, and expenditure of €12.34 million. Audiences grew to 127,499 in 2018, the highest box office since 2013, boosted by the West End musical Come From Away and Roddy Doyle’s Two Pints on tour. There was an operating surplus of €30,885; spending of €166,153 on capital and short-term projects resulted in a loss of €135,268 for the year.
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