Boom or bust, a show goes on

For theatre companies such as Wonderland, who are used to fending for themselves, the recession and funding cuts are not seen as a threat. Artistic director Alice Coghlan tells SARA KEATINGabout creating ambitious shows on a shoestring

WE DIDN’T HEAR much about “independent theatre” during the boom years, when expanding budgets across government departments was translated into increases in State subsidies for artists and arts organisations. But now that those budgets are shrinking again, Arts Council-funded organisations are struggling to maintain their prolific output under new financial conditions. With once-crowded theatre calendars begin to thin out as a consequence of, and in fear of further, funding cuts, it is an opportunity for independent theatre companies – seasoned to shoestring budgets and a skeleton production staff – to make their mark. Wonderland Theatre is one such company which seems to be coming into its own.

Wonderland, under the artistic direction of director and writer Alice Coghlan, has produced 10 new theatre productions since 2003, productions which have been as varied in form as in artistic style. They have ranged from traditional stagings of ghost stories to obscure sound-art performance pieces, and from intimate lunchtime operas to site-specific productions of Molière's famous French comedies. Take, for example, two of the company's most recent productions: a new translation of an obscure Italian restoration comedy, La Locandiera(or Mirandolina), by Carlo Goldoni, accompanied by a four-course dining experience, and a one-act, one-woman, self-help spoof, Life Shop Till You Drop, which embarks on its fourth national tour this week.

While the ongoing success of Life Shop Till You Dropcomes as a constant surprise to Coghlan, who wrote and first directed the show in 2007, she says that Wonderland "have always been very ambitious about what we want to achieve, no matter what the project is, no matter how little funding there is to support us".

“Even so, when we first produced it at Bewley’s Cafe Theatre and Alan King suggested we take a three-week run, we thought there was no way that we would fill the venue. In the end it was the best-selling show that Bewley’s ever had, and it has become more successful rather than less successful the more we have produced it. It’s even been to Abu Dhabi! When we were on tour in Navan, someone from the Irish society there saw it, and invited us to bring it over to entertain the expats.”

Coghlan puts the show’s success down to the constant “quest for happiness” in contemporary society. “It taps into that neurotic side of us that is always looking for advice, or wondering what someone else would say or do,” she says. “But it questions it too, and also satirises the whole self-help industry, which is making billions out of our need to be happy. It’s basically saying that we need to take charge of our own destiny.”

The optimism of the show chimes well with Wonderland’s philosophy of creating work from meagre means. “I wish I could say it was some great decision not to get funded,” Coughlan jokes, “but the truth is we have tried. You know, we could have produced another show in the time we’ve spent filling out funding application forms, but we haven’t had any luck, despite great reviews and strong audiences for all our work. But all of the established companies – Rough Magic, Loose Canon, Bedrock – they all had to start from somewhere. Not being funded and finding other ways to do your work, whether that’s through profit-share or whatever, is just part of the process. We still have to make the best show that we can.”

In fact, the success of Life Shop Till You Drophas played a vital part in the company's growth, as it is touring that provides it with some security in terms of income.

“When we tour, we are booked and paid by the venue, so it cuts the risk for us and means that we can all be paid properly and put whatever extra we make back into our next show,” Coghlan says. “And at this stage the show pretty much runs itself, so I can go down and set it all up with Clodagh but still have time for other projects.”

AND SO,as Life Shop Till You Dropheads off this week on another tour, Coghlan begins another Wonderland adventure, perhaps the company's most ambitious yet: a site-specific production of Brendan Behan's iconic but rarely produced Irish classic, The Hostage, at the newly renovated Pearse Centre on Pearse Street, the house where Pádraig Pearse lived until he was 12.

The month-long run, with a massive cast, will surely pose a big financial challenge for the company, but Wonderland is used to dealing with such eventualities. The production will fill a gap in the summer calendar, as more established theatre companies slim down their schedules in anticipation of the ever more difficult funding climate to come.

Life Shop Till You Drop

plays at Draíocht, Blanchardstown, tomorrow, Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, June 5-6, and then tours to Wexford (June 13), Monaghan (June 26) and Birr (July 18). La Locandiera tours to Naas (June 4), Drogheda (Oct 2-3) and Wexford (Oct 30-31). The Hostage will run at Pearse House, Dublin, from July 21 to Aug 16. wonderlandtheatre.com