Madam, - Having attended and thoroughly enjoyed "DruidSynge" in the Olympia Theatre last Saturday, I feel it may be time we reconsidered who should lay claim to being the real national theatre.
Should it be the financially stricken Abbey, which provides stale drama for consumption by bored North American tourists and its own coterie, while seeming utterly unable to connect with the huge support for amateur and professional theatre in this country? Or should it be Druid Theatre Company, which has have constantly challenged the boundaries of Irish theatre, regularly premièred work by emerging Irish dramatists and won awards worldwide, yet still retains the affection and support of the community?
Perhaps the regarding the new location of the National Theatre is not north or south of the Liffey, but east or west of the Shannon. - Yours, etc,
PAUL THORNTON, Clontarf, Dublin 3.