They've got there. The Theatre Festival has just nudged up over the 80 per cent occupancy it needs to come out smiling. Some of those shows just rocketed: Macnas's Diamonds In The Soil, Berkoff's Shakespeare's Villains, Red Kettle's The Salvage Shop, Tamarind's Hellcab. La Cuadra de Sevilla's Carmen sold out ages ago, but a matinee has been added this Saturday, for which there are still tickets. The Abbey and the Gate are both "storming", according to the festival's Fergus D. Linehan.
I went to a few nearly empty Fringe shows - which contrasted spectacularly with the experience of going to Corn Exchange's Car Show, where I became very chummy indeed with the three other people packed into the back of four cars. Fringe Festival director, Ali Curran, says, however, that none of the shows had consistently less than a 50 per cent house, and that business was up 65 per cent on last year. Among the shows which have done particularly well have been Car Show, Kaos's The Master and Margarita, Compagnie Yung Chang's Couleurs de Femme, Fabulous Beast's Sunday Lunch, SITI's Bob, Daghda Dance Company's Chimera and the Carroll's comedy programme. Once more unto the breach? "Yes! Next year's there'll be more international work and we'll consolidate the Irish work, and there'll be comedy again."
We've had our say, but the prizes are still to come: The Fringe Festival Awards can't be presented in the club on Saturday as usual because it's too busy, and so will be handed over on Sunday at Renards, to the accompaniment of a jazz quartet. There are prizes for Best Actor, Best Actress ("very un-PC," comments Ali), Best Production, and also the Culture Ireland award for inspiration. At the Dublin Theatre Festival Awards ceremony, there'll be no pushing or shoving, but rather a civilised luncheon, as one would expect at the Shelbourne; and it's perfectly PC too, with awards, presented by Samuel Beckett's nephew, Edward, going to the Best Male Actor and the Best Female Actor, as well as to the best productions, Irish, international and children's.
It's been a great festival, and perhaps the most important improvement to hope for before next year, would be some good news as regards the venues situation, which is approaching crisis point, as the dearth of medium-scale auditoria continues. Ronnie Burkett, whose Theatre of Marionettes, Canada, presents Tinka's New Dress at Colaiste Mhuire has actually integrated a skit on the situation into his show: "Do you know what they told me `Colaiste Mhuire' meant? `Very nice venue'. "
Still to open:
Main Festival: Carmen at the RDS (tonight); L is for Elephant at the Ark (Saturday)
Fringe: Kali and Uri (tonight) at the Alliance Francaise
Recommended: 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose, a riveting thriller which won the Best Production Award at the Irish Student Drama Festival this year. At the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre at 8.30 p.m. until Saturday.
