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The Arts:Three well-established, but smaller, theatre companies have had their Arts Council funds entirely withdrawn, a decision resulting in the demise of at least two of them. In a crisis that is likely to lead to more cuts, does a new council strategy mean the end of the theatre company as we know it, asks Peter Crawley

LAST FRIDAY, Storytellers Theatre Company closed its doors forever. Throughout the previous week, the Dublin-based company, founded 22 years ago to stage classic texts and create new work from diverse literary sources, had been conducting the grim business of winding down operations. The phone line was disconnected. The old computers were taken away to be recycled. The posters and programmes of the company’s considerable body of work were donated to the Irish Theatre Archive.