Today the most crucial decision on the future of the Abbey Theatre is due to be taken at an egm which is being asked to accept or reject proposals for reform of the theatre's outdated corporate governance structure.
In effect, the theatre's destiny lies with its shareholders, the advisory council that must now dissolve itself to make way for institutional change. Such change has been inevitable in the wake of the financial and management crises that have left the Abbey reeling from one debacle to another.
The proposals have emerged as a result of consultation between the Abbey, the Department of the Arts and the Arts Council. Under the proposals, the National Theatre Society - in existence since 1904 - will be replaced by the Abbey Theatre Ltd, a company limited by guarantee.
The means by which the board of this new company is appointed is at the core of the proposals, and the proposition is a cleverly-balanced one that should assuage fears about independence or the Abbey becoming a State-run institution. It should also ensure that the theatre will have available to it the kind of expertise needed to oversee transition and navigate the company out of the current morass into a new era of renewal.
The suggested process for making appointments to the board provides a more cohesive and logical approach than heretofore, eliminating factional interests. The Minister would initially nominate a chair and two directors to the nine-member board; but the additional directors would be chosen by an autonomous selection committee. This committee - the chair of the Abbey, an Arts Council representative and an independent outsider held in esteem by the arts sector - will also be charged with "maintaining the ongoing independence of the theatre".
The mechanism is pragmatic for an institution such as the Abbey, which must operate well away from political influence and remain free to stage drama that cuts to the bone of contemporary events or raises issues likely to provoke establishment invective. Continued State funding and, most likely, public support is contingent on these fundamental reforms being implemented. Self-confidence will come with the new regime, and that must now be restored to enable the theatre to get on with its core function, which is to provide good theatre, at least some of which must be innovative and high-risk.
However, the relentless trauma and self-interrogation that the theatre has undergone will all have been for nothing if funding does not match the realistic needs of the Abbey in the future. Both the Government and the Arts Council will have a huge onus of responsibility in this matter.