Wexford Festival Opera has received planning permission for a €24 million redevelopment of its famous Theatre Royal, writes Joe Humphreys.
The planning application was approved last week by Wexford County Council but the decision was only made public last night - in fittingly dramatic fashion - at curtain-fall on this year's Wexford festival.
The new development will include the building of a distinctive auditorium on the original High Street site, incorporating a motorised orchestra pit, a large arched stage and 750 seats - representing a 36 per cent increase on the existing capacity. It will also include a second 180-seat theatre, which will double as a rehearsal area.
To accommodate the development, the festival has purchased five neighbouring properties and the development site is 2.5 times bigger than the current one. The Office of Public Works helped to design the new building, which will keep its original facade.
Capital funding has been approved in principal by the Government on a matching basis with privately- raised cash.
Festival chief executive, Mr Jerome Hynes, said the fundraising drive was now under way, while talks were due to take place shortly with the Departments of the Taoiseach and Arts, Sport and Tourism.
"The Government are very supportive. They see the need for this, and now that we have planning permission, we will sit down for discussions. We will have to raise a serious amount of money privately but €24 million compares very well with international projects and, indeed, domestic projects of this type."
He added that he did not believe the controversy over the dearth of Irish artists at the festival would affect the funding application. On the question of its differences with RTÉ over the provision of an orchestra to Wexford, he said: "These issues are important but they are not issues which should upset opera in Ireland or the Wexford festival."
Construction of the new theatre is scheduled to begin in late 2005 or early 2006. The organisers said they would continue to provide a festival during the construction, although it may be scaled down or moved temporarily to another venue in Wexford.