Given the Taoiseach's opposition to the National Theatre's proposed move, the Office of Public Works' consultants' arguments against relocating southwards, and the fact that the Abbey has not absolutely ruled out the option of extending the theatre to the river at Eden Quay, it may be premature to consider alternative fates for the current Abbey Theatre building. But since others have already begun to do so, including Galway theatre artist Paraic Breathnach, the speculation might as well continue.
Prior to reading Frank McDonald's thought-provoking recent article in The Irish Times of February 3rd about the anticipated move, I broadly supported the Abbey's "preferred option" of abandoning the current unsuitable premises and heading for the docks. My only caveat was a concern that the Dublin docklands development in general seems to be moving increasingly away from community and citizen-focused development and towards pure commerce - not perhaps an appropriate setting for an accessible national cultural institution.
Frank McDonald's article, with the McCullough Mulvin image of a beautiful new theatre on the current site, caused me to reconsider somewhat. In particular, his reminders about the potential place of the Abbey in the proposed renewal of O'Connell Street affected me. I am old enough and rural enough still to consider O'Connell Street the main street of Dublin. I welcome the belated acknowledgement of its importance by a modern Dublin Corporation, anxious to undo the disgraceful neglect visited upon the street until recently.
Might not the same Dublin Corporation give fresh consideration to an old chestnut, namely building a municipal theatre in the city centre? Why not a magnificent new Dublin people's theatre on the site of the former national theatre?
Consider the case for such a theatre. Despite the fact that Dublin has a great number of theatre seats, it is in fact poorly served for viable city-centre theatres. Few parties can attest to this better than the independent theatre production companies of Dublin itself, which made a collective case to the Arts Council during the 19951996 theatre review, asking to have the absurd venue deficit in the capital addressed.
Another group with a particular perspective on this is the regional companies, among them my own. These can tour the length and breadth of Ireland and Europe and yet they have to bypass Dublin because no suitable city-centre venue exists at which to present their work.
Inner-city dwellers and the wider city-centre population, for all their entertainment options, are without a dynamic, community-conscious civic theatre that can showcase the diversity of Irish theatre practice and involve the audience and community in interactive ways.
This is not to say that there are not sterling people running fine theatres within Dublin. From the SFX City Theatre to the intrepid Crypt, there are independently managed venues surviving on limited subsidies, offering outlets for work of varying scale. There are commercial houses which must operate at financial gain, from the grand old Gaiety to Andrew's Lane. There are well-appointed theatres located on-campus in city-centre educational institutions and, of course, there is the self-sufficient producing house that is the Gate Theatre. None of these, however, meets the full range of requirements of a civic theatre in modern Dublin.
The coming-on-stream of the rebuilt Project Arts Centre, with its large upstairs space, obviously alleviates the venue crisis somewhat. But Project appears to be structuring itself to provide, in time, a rapidly changing programme of multiple art forms and to be the instigator of its own experimental programmes. This emerging policy is consistent with Project's grand and varied tradition, but it may not be compatible with the needs of independently produced theatre or community friendly theatre programming.
There is still no Dublin city venue that combines all of the essential qualities needed in a popular civic theatre. Just a few of the items on the list of requirements would be: a dedicated year-round theatre programme; well-paid permanent staff; modern, flexible stage and technical facilities; audiencefriendly accommodation (comfortable seats for long-legged people, for example!); the remit and marketing capacity to promote a diversity of work in a consistent manner; and a sensitive, contemporary community and education policy.
Also required would be an open-door programming policy that successfully combines in-house innovation and co-productions with good old-fashioned independently produced touring work from home and overseas. Not only are few of the current Dublin venues adequately equipped to accommodate independent theatre, but, uniquely in Ireland, none is funded to underwrite the considerable cost of hosting visiting theatre. Ironically, such host theatres exist in regional towns all over Ireland and in the outer Dublin suburbs, but not near O'Connell Street.
As a case in point, Upstate's current touring production, The Countrywoman, will be staged in Limerick at the Belltable, a venue which has a policy and a specific programming fund from the Arts Council that encourages the presentation of work from other places. Until a few weeks ago, it looked as if The Countrywoman, a play about inner-city Dublin, would not be seen in the city and community in which it is set, because no venue of the required scale had the resources to host it. Fortunately, the director of the SFX City Theatre, at some risk to that venue's own delicate finances and to ours, has offered us a box-office share incentive to present the play.
While the SFX City is steeped in recent theatre lore (and its location particularly suits this play), it is a building from another era that must be adapted to its various modern uses, from clubbing to arena theatre presentations. It cannot be expected to fulfil the role of a civic venue.
The Countrywoman has been seen in Dublin already, at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght. The new theatres and arts centres in Tallaght, Blanchardstown, Dun Laoghaire and Ballymun are welcome additions to the cultural fabric of Dublin and to the growing Irish touring theatre circuit. Decentralisation is absolutely the way forward in the traffic-congested reality of modern Ireland. It helps put heart back into community life in satellite towns that were neglected for years. But it cannot be seen as an alternative to good city centre provision.
In an article by Helen Meany in this newspaper in December, Brid Dukes of the Tallaght Civic Theatre offered the encouraging statistic that over 50 per cent of the theatre's audience comes from the immediate Dublin 24 area. This is how it should be, a strong vindication of the decentralisation policy. But we seem to have decentralised without commensurate thought for the health of the centre and the value of retaining a diverse cultural life in among the shops in town.
Arguments from politicians about the Abbey Theatre's historical relationship with the street ring a little hollow in a nation that has until recently treated its city-centre architecture and heritage and its inner-city citizens with such apparent indifference. If the National Theatre moves, it will at least leave behind the space to allow local and national government to redress the cultural neglect of the north inner city. A refurbished, user-friendly, community-conscious Abbey building under a new name, established and licensed by Dublin Corporation, would be a beacon to outshine even the Monument of Light.
Declan Gorman is artistic director of Upstate Theatre Project in Drogheda.
Weblink: www.upstate.ie
