Madam, - One of the key criticisms of Ben Barnes's performance as artistic director of the Abbey Theatre concerns the poor ticket sales. Perhaps I can shed some light on the problem.
On the day after Mr Barnes survived a confidence vote I called the Abbey's booking office to reserve tickets for Beauty in a Broken Place, a very positively reviewed play by Colm Tóibín. I waited over 20 minutes while a taped message told me how important my call was.
I hung up in frustration and rang the Project Arts Centre to book seats for Boston Marriage. My call was answered within seconds.
While the Abbey gets on with its soul-searching, is there any chance someone could pick up the phone? - Yours, etc.,
CARIONA NEARY, St Helen's Road, Booterstown, Co Dublin.