ArtScape/Edited by Gerry Smyth: There was good news from Government quarters for the Abbey Theatre this week - and a strong signal that yet more may be on the way, writes Belinda McKeon.
Addressing the Dáil on Wednesday, The Minister for Arts, John O'Donoghue, gave the strongest indication yet that a relocation from Abbey Street may be in the pipeline for the theatre. Referring to "problems of cost and acquisition" - that is, of purchasing sites adjoining the Abbey in order to extend the theatre's "footprint" - O'Donoghue admitted that implementation of the decision made for the Abbey two years ago by his predecessor, Síle de Valera, "is beginning to look more difficult", and that to proceed with an Abbey Street reconstruction "may not now be possible".
This can't have come as a disappointment to the artistic director of the Abbey, Ben Barnes, who, in an interview published in this newspaper last month, spoke clearly of the theatre's willingness to explore other possibilities for its physical future. Speaking this week to The Irish Times, Barnes said he felt Wednesday's Dáil discussion reflected "public feeling on the issue", and reiterated that the Abbey was open to "sitting down and discussing the options".
But when will this happen? While O'Donoghue's statement hints at a move for the Abbey, the final decision has yet to be made, and alternative sites have yet to be seriously considered. With the Office of Public Works still examining the options for expansion at the current site, this has certainly not been ruled out. Meanwhile, the site of the Carlton Cinema on O'Connell Street - widely felt to be the Abbey's most promising option - remains the subject of a High Court challenge to the making of a compulsory purchase order by Dublin City Council. Many would feel that the matter has dragged on for long enough, but Barnes would seem to be remaining remarkably patient. After Wednesday's statement by O'Donoghue, he says, the Abbey finds itself in "a happy place" on the question of the building.
He must be happier still, then, about Thursday's announcement by the Minister for Finance of an allocation of an extra €1 million to mark the theatre's centenary. The boon comes from the Revised Estimates presented to the Dáil this week, the post-Budget adjustments to Government spending that are made on the basis of higher-than-expected income from public spending in a number of areas.
"It's not unexpected," says Barnes. "Our costings for the centenary programme - which is a pervasive and large programme, involving many offstage strands - have been with the department for a time."
The centenary programme was devised, it seems, on the understanding that additional funding would be forthcoming at some stage. So, welcome as the extra million may be, it is "not surplus to requirements". Neither does it come without its conditions, however. As Fiach Mac Conghail, arts policy consultant to O'Donoghue, explains: "There are a series of commitments that the Minister has requested the Abbey to deliver on, with the €1 million."
Interestingly, these commitments include a strategic national touring programme and the commissioning and touring of Irish-language writing, two matters on which the Abbey has come in for strident criticism of late. The third major condition, says Mac Conghail, is that the €1 million will not be spent "on day-to-day matters, on deficit or administration costs".
But Mac Conghail also points out that the Abbey has earned its extra money by raising a substantial amount, through fundraising activities, from the private sector.
"This funding represents a matching of that," he says. What it also represents, of course, is a further sign that, when it comes to securing precious funds from the Department of Finance coffers, O'Donoghue has genuine clout. Which can only be good news for the arts sector as a whole.
Mel's movie raises passions
It hasn't been crucified, or exonerated - Stateside reviews have been mixed for Mel Gibson's controversial film, The Passion of the Christ, writes Ian Kilroy in the US. Critics have been both lauding and lambasting the movie, which was released in North America this week despite protests that it was anti-Semitic.
"It is easily one of the most violent films I have ever seen," wrote James Verniere of the Boston Herald, echoing much of the criticism heard since the film opened on Ash Wednesday.
A.O. Scott of the New York Times said the film "so relentlessly focused on the savagery of Jesus's final hours that this film seems to arise less from love than from wrath, and to succeed more in assaulting the spirit than in uplifting it".
There was no "clear sense of what all this bloodshed was for", the review said, noting that "violence against the innocent demands righteous vengeance in the third act".
David Denby of the New Yorker thought the film "a sickening death trip, a grimly unillunimating procession of treachery, beatings, blood and agony".
Richard Corliss's review in Time magazine was more favourable. "It's hard not to admire Gibson's passion," he said. "He has made a serious, handsome, excruciating film that radiates total commitment".
Roger Ebert in the Chicago-Sun Times agreed: "I was moved by the depth of feeling, by the skill of the actors and technicians, by their desire to see this project through no matter what," he wrote.
Todd McCarthy in Variety called it "the Jesus movie of this era", saying it was a "highly proficient" work.
Peter Travers in Rolling Stone came down in the middle with a mixed review. "Scenes range from classic to poor and all stops in between," he said.
Archive treasures
The National Irish Visual Arts Library, NIVAL, at the National College of Art and Design is an extraordinary resource, writes Aidan Dunne. It is a repository for documentary material on 20th century and contemporary Irish art and design. It now incorporates items relating to more than 3,600 artists. The consist of anything from extensive monographs to solo exhibition catalogues and invitation cards. This week, church furnishing company Earley's, based in Camden Street, Dublin, from the 1850s to 1974, donated its formidable archive, comprising more than 300 original design drawings and photographic material, to the library.
But perhaps the main strength of NIVAL is its holdings of ephemeral material. Nowadays, practically every exhibition - and there are a lot - is marked by the publication of a relatively substantial catalogue, probably featuring one or more colour illustrations. But that's a recent development. In the past it was more likely that the "catalogue" would be a sheet of paper with minimal information and perhaps a price list, unlikely to be preserved in conventional libraries - but useful, even invaluable, to researchers. NIVAL also holds correspondence and newspaper and other reviews, generally not otherwise available. This week, NIVAL set up an extensive Artists' Database as a guide for researchers. Each entry contains basic biographical and professional details and provides a useful indication for researchers as to whether a visit to the library is called for. Access to the website is via www.ncad.ie
The Bard masterclass
Royal Shakespeare Company actor Mark Rylance will direct scenes and speeches from the works of the Bard as part of a masterclass in the Helix on March 14th. The British classical actor and director will use a group of leading Irish actors as part of the programme, as well as the involving members of the audience who want to get in on the act.
Rylance is artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, where his Shakespearean roles have included Cornelius in Cymberline, Hamlet and Henry V, Richard II and Olivia in Twelfth Night. This master class is being organised by Classic Stage Ireland, a new theatre company, in association with The Helix. Classic Stage Ireland's inaugural production will be All's Well That Ends Well at the Helix in June, followed by As You Like It and The Winter's Tale. Booking for on the masterclass (10.30am - 6.00pm , €40) : 01-7007000.
Meanwhile, British dramatist Arnold Wesker will deliver a lecture at UCC entitled "The DNA of a Play", next Thursday (March 4th). Wesker will explain the creative writing process and talk about his early plays and his experience working with the Royal Court in London in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Wesker is best known for the Trilogy (Chicken Soup with Barley, 1958; Roots, 1959; I'm Talking about Jerusalem, 1960). The lecture takes place on Thursday at 6 p.m., G18, Kane Building, UCC. Admission is free and a place can be reserved by calling: Dr Anne Etienne, Department of English, Tel: 021-4903144; e-mail: a.etienne@ucc.ie
AIB backs 'Review'
A new issue of the always interesting and lavishly illustrated Irish Arts Review has just appeared, along with the announcement that AIB is to be the magazine's principal sponsor for the next three years. Among the contributors is Brian Fallon, former Irish Times art critic of, who makes the case for Basil Blackshaw as the "outstanding painter in Ireland, North or South, and a figure of European significance". Other artists featured include Gwen O'Dowd, Richard Gorman Abigail O'Brien - whose recent Munich exhibition, The Seven Sacraments, caused quite a stir.
Meanwhile, RTÉ's Open House is holding an Emerging Artist of the Year Award in conjunction with the Irish Arts Review and the Apollo Gallery. This is the third year of the the competition which will be judged by art critic Medb Ruane, artist Gerald Davis and Brian Maguire, Artist and Professor of Fine Art in NCAD. The winner will be announced in a special edition of Open House on March 29th, which will feature the work of the five finalists, as well as special guests from the art world. The winning artist and finalists will have an exhibition in the Apollo Art Gallery from April 1st and will have their work featured in the Irish Arts Review.
The closing date is Wednesday, March 17th. Artists are being asked to submit six slides and six photographs of their work including title scale and media used and a short biography. The competition is open only to artists who have not already had a solo exhibition.