Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Theatre companies sharing resources to put shows together in a 'hub' set-up could be a revolutionary concept, or a vicious circle. Limerick is leading the way to see how it might work, writes PETER CRAWLEY

AS A MECHANISM, the hub is beautifully simple and endlessly complex. There it is, at the calm centre of a wheel’s vigorous activity, with radiating spokes distributing tension so evenly that it’s hard to determine where any burden lies. For a radical new model of making theatre, there are, technically speaking, better terms to capture the dynamic. But “production gyroscope” doesn’t have quite the same ring.