Madam, - Amid all the discussion about the ills of the Abbey, one point should retain primacy. The principal objective of the Abbey should not be to put more backsides on seats.
Madam, - Amid all the discussion about the ills of the Abbey, one point should retain primacy. The principal objective of the Abbey should not be to put more backsides on seats.
Nor should it be concerned with giving us the "entertainment" that the publicity machines brainwash us into desiring.
What it should be concerned with, is providing those moments of great drama that - in Frank O'Connor's words - remind people of "living above and beyond themselves like some image of man's original aspiration".
Productions such as last year's Godot at the Gate and the intensely acted Proof in the tiny Focus Theatre achieved such an effect. At times during these productions, one felt as if one was being taken apart and then put back together.
When was the last occasion a production in the Abbey made one feel like this? - Yours, etc.,
JIM McCARTHY, Serpentine Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4.