Dublin theatre festival ticket sales hit €1m mark

THE DUBLIN Theatre Festival took home ticket sales of €1 million in 2007, a year in which it received extra Government funding and substantially higher commercial sponsorship in order to promote its 50th anniversary year, writes Laura Slattery.

Accounts recently filed at the Companies Office show that the limited company that runs the festival had total income of almost €3.9 million in 2007 and recorded a surplus before tax of €28,400.

The box office takings of €1 million were 23 per cent higher than the year before, while the Arts Council grant increased 69 per cent from €773,000 to €1.3 million and other sponsorship jumped 158 per cent to €1.28 million.

Additional funds of €200,000 were also set aside by the Government to help the festival organisers promote the event more vigorously.

The festival directors told The Irish Times that they were "delighted with the level of support" they had received, which they said resulted in an expanded programme and heightened public awareness of the event.

The increase in ticket sales exemplified how additional grant and sponsorship support relates directly to box office sales, the directors said.

Highlights of last year's festival, of which Ulster Bank was the principal sponsor, included Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, The History Boys by Alan Bennett and Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill.

The company, which has directors including financier Peter Crowley, acclaimed theatre director Garry Hynes and TV producer Moya Doherty, employs six people in administration and last year employed 22 festival employees, an increase on 12 the previous year.

Employment costs increased from €318,000 to €423,000.

The full programme for this year's Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival will be announced next Wednesday.

It is scheduled to run from September 25th to October 12th. Its artistic director and chief executive is Loughlin Deegan.

The event will include a performance by British actor Vanessa Redgrave in The Year of Magical Thinking, a play by Joan Didion based on her memoir, directed by David Hare, which will run at the Gaiety Theatre from September 30th to October 4th.

"The 2008 programme promises to take Dublin by storm again with a multitude of productions that will serve every need," the company said yesterday.