It took a while to get going, but 2008 proved to be a strong one for Irish theatre, with innovative new work and strong touring productions, though there was also a lack of engagement with politics.
THOUGH IT took a while to get going, 2008 was a good year for Irish theatre, with quality shows and a palpable confidence, as funding by the Arts Council continued to pay dividends, at least according to the judges of The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, who saw more than 300 shows.
Yet it was the Arts Council that was blamed for the slow start, given that the late announcement of funding meant companies had little time to turn things around for the start of the year. “People didn’t have enough notice to get their productions together, and that’s why you ended up with a glut later in the year,” says Sara Keating, who is joined on the judging panel this year by Madeline Boughton and Donal Shiels. The result was only two productions in January, though things picked up as the year progressed, with particular mention given to the high standard of touring productions in the latter half. “Quite often it’s difficult and expensive to tour, and people would cut the margins, cut the costs, to make it all fit and work,” says Shiels. “But I thought this year the quality of touring work was very strong.”
Boughton pays tribute to the number of collaborations that helped to produce some of the year’s most memorable performances. “A general hats-off to the venues, because I think they’ve been very creative about some of the programming risks that they’re taking,” she says. “Collaborations like that between the Solstice Arts Centre and Tall Tales Theatre Company, where the venue adopts the theatre company and gives them a home and a basis to do their work, or the Mill in Dundrum, where they adopted PurpleHeart, are really great.”
The judges were also impressed by the number of emerging companies that are challenging the big names in Irish theatre when it comes to producing innovative work. “I found the big established names were producing good work, but not exciting work,” says Keating. “I’d be interested to see how that translates next year, because what really struck me the most this year is the younger companies, emerging artists, were producing the cutting-edge stuff, the stuff that you remember.” This innovative new work displayed a new-found confidence that the judges are hoping won’t dissipate as the arts head into a difficult year. “In the Fringe there was a lot of confidence from companies who were not intimidated by companies that had more resources than they did,” says Sheils. “It’ll be interesting to see this year whether that confidence remains intact.”
The year revealed a growing independent theatre sector, according to Boughton, who hopes to see more effective relationships established between the bigger houses and newer companies. “There isn’t as much flow between the two sectors as there needs to be, and I think that might change in the next year,” she says.
AUDIENCES – THOUGH STILL not schooled in turning off their mobile phones before a performance, to the irritation of the judges – were strong over the year, but in particular for opera, which flourished, and was boosted by the opening of Wexford Opera House. “It was raining opera!” says Sheils. “I think the standard is really good in terms of what’s on offer, and everyone seems to have a patch – Wexford Festival Opera, the Opera Theatre Company, Opera Ireland, Castleward, Opera South in Cork – and they’re all a little bit different in terms of offerings.” The Dublin Theatre Festival’s inclusion of a ReViewed section, where successful Irish productions were restaged, was also commended by the judges as “a really good initiative”.
Though much of 2008 proved positive for Irish theatre, there is still room for improvement. “For me the biggest issue is the marketing and information flow,” says Shiels, citing instances where the judges only found out about productions when the runs had already ended. “If you want your show to be considered, please let us know!” pleads Keating.
Boughton laments the lack of programmes on many instances, with information about the productions difficult to obtain even at the performances themselves.
“The trend for writers to direct their own work is also continuing,” says Boughton, “and it’s not always a good idea. There are very few writers that would have that dual skill, and it can sometimes become too reverential to the script at the cost, ultimately, of the piece.”
A perceived reluctance by Irish theatre to engage with the political is remarked upon. “I think we miss that,” says Boughton. “We are going through such a huge time politically in this country, but the theatre community is reluctant to engage.” Boughton also notes how male-dominated Irish theatre was last year. “I find that the perspective in theatre for me over the last two years, and particularly in the last year, feels very male, and that’s something I’m curious about, because predominantly the audiences are female. I’d be interested to see if that continues into this year, or whether maybe some of that is challenged.”
With funding for Irish theatre (aside from the Abbey) for the year ahead down more than 8 per cent , the judges say a thriving industry faces a difficult time in 2009. “I think theatre is in a healthy state,” says Shiels. “Where it goes in the future? You just hope that people can maintain those standards. And there’s always room for improvement.”
THE JUDGES 2008
Madeline Boughton is director of projects and promotion at Culture Ireland. She has worked with a range of arts organisations, including the Abbey and Peacock theatres, Project Arts Centre, Dublin Theatre Festival and Dance Council of Ireland. She was a board member and former joint artistic director of Dublin Youth Theatre, and chairwoman of Pan Pan Theatre Company, and ancilliary programme co-ordinator with the 50th Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival
Sara Keating is a freelance theatre critic and arts writer. In 2006 she received a PhD from the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin, for her research on 20th-century Irish drama. She currently teaches contemporary Irish drama at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Dublin
Donal Shiels has worked as a producer and promoter of theatre, opera, music and dance with Opera Ireland, Druid, Second Age Theatre Company, Storytellers, the Gaiety Theatre and the Olympia Theatre, among others. He managed the China/Ireland Cultural Exchange in 2003/2004, and is the former chief executive of St Patrick’s Festival, and a former chairman of Theatre Forum Ireland.
BEST ACTOR
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor:As Aruturo Ui in the Abbey Theatre production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Ralph Manheim
Sean Campion:As Raphael Bell in the Nomad and Livin' Dred production of The Dead School, by Patrick McCabe
David Bradley:As Spooner in the Gate Theatre production of No Man's Land, by Harold Pinter
Aaron Monaghan:As Billy in the Druid and Atlantic Theatre Company's production of The Cripple of Inishmaan, by Martin McDonagh
BEST ACTRESS
Dearbhle Crotty:As Masha in the Abbey Theatre production of The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, in a version by Brian Friel
Samantha Heaney:As Pumpgirl in the Lyric Theatre production of Pumpgirl, by Abbie Spallen
Anita Reeves:As Kay in the Gúna Nua and Civic Theatre production of Little Gem, by Elaine Murphy
Fiona Bell:As Mill in the Hatch Theatre Company, in association with Project Arts Centre, production of Further than the Furthest Thing, by Zinnie Harris
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mikel Murfi:As Patsy in the Druid Theatre Company production of The New Electric Ballroom, by Enda Walsh
Don Wycherley:As Ivan in the Abbey Theatre production of The Seafarer, by Conor McPherson
Andrew Bennett:As Martin in the Abbey Theatre production of Fool for Love, by Sam Shepard
Walter McGonagle:As Old Man in Prime Cut's production of Antigone, by Sophocles, adapted by Owen McCafferty
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Aoibheann O'Hara:As Miss Mabel Chiltern in the Abbey Theatre production of An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde
Aisling O'Sullivan:As Lily in the Abbey Theatre production of Lay Me Down Softly, by Billy Roche
Rosaleen Linehan:As Breda in Druid Theatre Company's production of The New Electric Ballroom, by Enda Walsh
Dearbhla Molloy:As Eileen in the Druid and Atlantic Theatre Company's production of The Cripple of Inishmaan, by Martin McDonagh
BEST DIRECTOR
Rupert Goold :For the Gate Theatre production of No Man's Land, by Harold Pinter
Neil Bartlett:For the Abbey Theatre production of An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde
Wayne Jordan:For the Randolf SD production of Everyone Loves Sylvia, by Pierre De Marivaux
Garry Hynes:For Druid and Atlantic Theatre Company's production of The Cripple of Inishmaan, by Martin McDonagh
BEST NEW PLAY
Abbie Spallen:For Pumpgirl, produced by Lyric Offsite Productions
Enda Walsh:For The New Electric Ballroom, produced by Druid Theatre Company
Elaine Murphy:For Little Gem, produced by Gúna Nua and Civic Theatre
Dan Reardon:For Bleeding Poets, produced by Roomkeepers
BEST PRODUCTION
Loose Canon:For Phaedras Love by Sarah Kane, directed by Jason Byrne
Joan Sheehy:For Buck Jones and the Bodysnatchers by Ken Bourke, directed by Joan Sheehy
The Abbey Theatre:For The Burial at Thebes by Sophocles, in a version by Seamus Heaney, directed by Patrick Mason
Nomad and Livin' Dred:For The Dead School by Patrick McCabe, directed by Padraic McIntyre
BEST DESIGNER: COSTUME
Rae Smith:For the Abbey Theatre production of An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde
Maree Kearns:For the Nomad and Livin' Dred production of The Dead School, by Patrick McCabe
Sinead Cuthbert (left) and Therese McKeon:For the Performance Corporation production of The Nose, by Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Tom Swift
Niamh Lunny:For The Ark's production of Beware of the Storybook Wolves, by Lauren Child, adapted by Tom Swift
BEST DESIGNER: LIGHTING
Neil Austin:For the Gate Theatre production of No Man's Land, by Harold Pinter
Kevin Tracey:For the Performance Corporation's production of The Nose, by Nikolai Gogol, adapted by Tom Swift
Paul Keogan:For Wexford Opera's production of Mines of Sulphur, by Richard Rodney Bennett
Davy Cunningham:For the Gate Theatre production of The Weir, by Conor McPherson
BEST DESIGNER: SET
Lez Brotherston:For the Gate Theatre production of Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen, in a version by Brian Friel
Monica Frawley:For the B*spoke Theatre Company production of The Sanctuary Lamp, by Tom Murphy
Owen MacCárthaigh:For the Cork Opera House/Association of Regional Theatres (NI) production of Juno and the Paycock, by Sean OCasey
Ferdia Murphy:For the Abbey Theatre production of Lay Me Down Softly, by Billy Roche
BEST OPERA PRODUCTION
Opera 2005:For A Masked Ball by Verdi, directed by Tom Hawkes
Wexford Opera:For The Mines of Sulphur by Richard Rodney Bennett, directed by Michael Barker-Caven
Castleward Opera:For Così fan Tutte by Mozart, directed by Tom Hawkes
Opera Ireland:For Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, directed by Dieter Kaegi
JUDGES' SPECIAL AWARD
Brokentalkers:For their innovative work for new audiences using new technologies and formats for the theatre.
Wexford Opera House:For the opening of the first custom built multi-purpose opera house in Ireland.
Conor Lovett:For his performances of the prose works of Samuel Beckett with Gare St Lazare Players
Paul Burke:For his commitment and dedication as a fight director