Increased arts funding has led to new theatres - but the two in the north-west couldn't be more different from each other. Letterkenny's An Grianán is intimate with adventurous programming while audiences at Derry's 1,000-seater Millennium Forum prefer foreign touring shows with celebrity names or local productions. Derek O'Connor reports
THE proliferation of funding opportunities in recent years has changed the Irish arts landscape beyond all recognition, not least in a geographical sense. A sudden abundance of generous funding avenues, hand in hand with the development boom, saw the arrival - in some cases seemingly overnight - of several state-of-the-art facilities, among them a rake of impressive new theatrical spaces.
Take Co Donegal, for example: for a notoriously under-resourced corner of the country boasting plenty of significant arts activity and little by way of proper performance space, the arrival of An Grianán has given the north-west a base for cultural activities to be proud of. A striking 350-seat venue on Letterkenny's Port Road, An Grianán is thriving after three years of business. And, a mere half-hour up the road in the heart of Derry, the newly opened Millennium Forum complex is causing a stir of its own.
Whereas An Grianán's arrival in Letterkenny was the culmination of years of hard campaigning within a strong and dedicated arts network already at play across Co Donegal, for many Derry natives the Millennium Forum arrived somewhat self-contained in relation to the city's existing theatre scene. Intended as a millennial monument of sorts to the revitalisation of Derry's city centre, the Forum cuts an imposing figure, housing a 1,000-seat auditorium and a smaller studio space, along with conference facilities and adjacent shopping units. While existing local venues such as The Playhouse comfortably play host to smaller productions from every corner of the country, for the Forum, the stakes are higher: a bigger venue equals bigger productions - and significantly higher ticket prices. That said, with more than 100,000 admissions in seven months and more than £1million sterling recouped at the box-office, the people of Derry appear to be happy to vote with their feet.
Examine the programming to date, however, and the difference between the two venues becomes apparent. Audience favourites at An Grianán have included everything from The Celtic FC Story to packed-out amateur productions of Show Boat and Fiddler On The Roof At the opposite end of the artistic spectrum, it has played host to touring companies from Passion Machine to Zimbabwe's Siyaya Arts, while scoring critical kudos for their own production of poet Cáthal O'Searcaigh's Irish-language version of Salomé.
The bottom line, says director Patricia McBride, is about serving the community: "It's about trying to challenge the audience, but also to give them a bit of what they want. Before the theatre here, there wasn't really the venue to bring in anything other than very small-scale dramatic or musical works, and now we've been able to open up artforms to people that they wouldn't have had a chance to see before.
"It's about forging relationships with our audience, which is why, for example, we very consciously target our programming at schools - with a view to them coming back. Comedy gigs, for example, bring in people we mightn't get otherwise. Then it's about making them aware of the rest of our programme. We're always thinking in the long term."
THE backbone of the Millennium Forum's programme during its first year, however, has been large touring productions from abroad. A recent visit from the musical Grease, for example, scored some £100,000 in ticket sales.
"I've been happy enough with the balance of the programme, says Forum chief executive Michael Poyner. "What has been disappointing has been the lack of an audience for some of the things that I've brought in which, I think, have been extremely good - like, for example, the Imperial Circus Of China and the Georgian State Dancers. There's still a very parochial attitude to anything that's not local - I mean local on a larger scale, in that it doesn't have famous faces from Coronation Street or something. The Imperial Circus saw about 200 people a show, for example, and that was desperately disappointing."
While audiences for smaller, purely dramatic works at The Forum have been sparse, Poyner intends for them to continue: "The fact that we're not pulling big audiences for those shows makes me wonder. The Playhouse recently had a show called Maire: Woman of Derry (by local playwright Brian Foster) - and that was packed out. Again, partly that's the parochial attitude. Do you have to put Derry in the title to suggest that it's safe, that the show might be entertaining?"
Perhaps not, but the obvious desire from local audiences to view art that reflects upon their own lives and experiences (and Derry is a city with more than its fair share of tales to tell) might suggest a serious gap in the market, one the Millennium Forum might well be encouraged to embrace.
"I think that the challenge that the Forum faces," says An Grianán's McBride, "having 1,000 seats to sell presents a much greater onus to do more popular work, to have more of a core programme that secures your audience and therefore your financial viability. We probably have more of an opportunity to experiment and say 'We will take the risk on that show' - and see how it does."
In the end, it boils down to a very old chestnut indeed - can a venue enjoy both credibility and commercial viability? To date, An Grianán has been able to pull off that notoriously tricky balancing act with remarkable robustness, while the successes enjoyed by the Millennium Forum over its first year have been box-office ones. Time - and, rather crucially, punter power - will tell.
Coming soon at An Grianán: Epic - a play inspired by the The Tain (Upstate Live), Thursday; Out of that Childhood Country, a celebration of the life and works of Monaghan poet Patrick Kavanagh (Bare Bodkin Theatre Country) Friday; The Legends of Swing, A Tribute to Nat, Ella & Bing, Saturday. Election Bull (May 20th and 21st). Bookings: 074-20777. Website: www.angrianan.com
This week at the Millennium Forum: two children's shows, part of the Young at Art initiative, Buster (Cahoots) and Annabel Star, Tuesday and Wednesday; Kornog, traditional music, and also The Irish Tenors, Thursday; Snooker, Jimmy White vs Joe Swail, Saturday. Booking: tel 048-71264455/e-mail boxoffice
@millenniumforum.co.uk
