The Gate Theatre in Dublin went back into the black last year with a modest profit of some €65,000, reversing a deficit of almost €230,000 in 2003.
As the Abbey Theatre endured its worst financial crisis in its 100th anniversary year, the return to profits at the Gate followed successful productions such as The Price by Arthur Miller and Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel.
The profit last year came as the theatre had an average paying attendance of 85 per cent, up from 70 per cent in 2003. Attendance levels last year were marginally higher than the 83 per cent seen in 2002, when the Gate made a profit of €67,000.
"We sold more tickets in 2004 than we did in 2003. We will be over 85 per cent for 2005. We've had a good year," said the Gate's director, Michael Colgan.
Famous for its productions of work by Samuel Beckett - among many other playwrights - the company is currently running a festival to celebrate the 75th birthday of British playwright Harold Pinter, who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The theatre company's board of directors includes senior business figures such as former Bank of Ireland governor Laurence Crowley, AIB chairman Dermot Gleeson SC and the public relations consultant Mary Finan.
Accounts recently filed for Edwards-MacLiammoir Dublin Gate Theatre Productions Ltd show that the value of the company's ticket sales rose to €2.58 million in 2004 from €2.08 million a year earlier.
While an Arts Council subsidy of €700,000 reduced the company's operating expenses to €2.6 million from €3.3 million, the company had an operating loss of €28,602. The annual subsidy was increased last year from €600,000 in 2003.
"The company is dependent on Arts Council funding. The directors have had discussions with the Arts Council and are of the opinion that funding will continue for the foreseeable future," said a note in the accounts.
Only with the help of €93,561 in additional income was the theatre able to turn a profit. Chief among the sources of additional income was the sale of programmes and advertisements in programmes, which yielded a surplus of €82,293.
The theatre's café-bar returned a loss of €10,727 after a deficit of €6,345 in 2003.
The theatre company employs 29 people, not including actors.
