Equality, fraternity. . .Equity?

Is theatre 'a demilitarised zone where people can meet and talk'? KarenFricker was at Equity's conference on the role of performing artists but wondered why no Irish actors were on the panel

Irish Actors' Equity is, in the words of executive committee member Rynagh O'Grady, "at a crossroads". Fifty years old this year, the union that represents stage and film actors in Ireland held a conference this past weekend to celebrate and assess its achievements and current position, and to raise its public profile and create solidarity with other performing artists in Ireland and internationally.

The RTÉ reporters and TV3 cameras swarming the Liberty Hall Centre on Sunday, before the conference's central panel discussion, indicate that Equity went some way towards achieving its aims on the profile-raising front. Celebration appears to have been well looked after too: the weekend included a reception at Guinness Storehouse and a "party dress" buffet supper for several hundred at Dublin Castle. Whether the aims of assessment and solidarity - even within the ranks of its own membership - have been achieved, however, remains open to debate.

That the acting workforce in Ireland is disempowered and under-resourced is indisputable. Two years ago, Irish theatre magazine, which I edit, ran a series of articles by reporter Mark Phelan on the working conditions for actors in the Republic; the disillusionment we encountered from actors was overwhelming, not just with the state of their industry but with Equity itself. Many actors described a union that was difficult to contact, unresponsive to their needs, and unable to provide the advocacy and support that it is putatively there to provide.

The appointment of a new president of Equity, Kathleen Barrington, last year seemed a positive sign, however; and under Barrington Equity has made the basic and essential stride of raising the minimum level of pay for actors under Equity contract from €254 a week to €350, and that minimum is set to rise again on January 6th next year to €381. This is a hugely positive development and to be commended; and indeed there seems to be a sense among the Irish acting population that Equity is waking up to their needs.

To what extent this weekend conference advanced this development, however, is dubious. Its focal event, a panel discussion titled "The Status of Performing Artists and their Role in the Life of a Nation", fell well short of achieving its stated goal of addressing the "pressing issues" facing actors, dancers, and musicians in Ireland. The problems began with a frankly mystifying, if inarguably starry, lineup of international speakers, and were exacerbated by a serious lack of framing of what the discussion was there to achieve.

The first speaker, Giles Havergal, co-director of the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, did not instil confidence when he opened his remarks by calling himself "a bit of a fraud" who was "not going to talk on the topic of the conference". This proved a bit disingenuous, as Havergal's presentation on how he and his company built a world-class theatre that is truly engaged with its local community in the depressed Gorbals area of Glasgow was a banner story of artistic empowerment - particularly as Havergal and another of his two co-directors are actors who have continued to perform in the theatre as they manage it.

The energy that was generated by Havergal's presentation, however, did not extend into those of the next two speakers, both esteemed artists from media other than theatre, whose presence on the panel simply didn't make sense. French filmmaker Catherine Breillat, writer-director of the brilliantly controversial Romance and À Ma Soeur, made few friends in the room as she described her technique of making movies "on" actors not "with" them - a position challenged from the floor by actor Liz Schwarz, who wondered if this did not constitute "manipulation". The great Irish novelist John McGahern then modestly offered some comments on theatre as the translation of private thought into public dialogue, and told a charming anecdote about having to improvise a lecture at a Mennonite college in Indiana, abiding proof to him that performance is not his forte.

It was up to actor David Heap to ask from the floor the question that, by this point, was simmering in the mind of at least this spectator: with all respect to the achievements of the illustrious speakers, why - oh why - was there not a single Irish performing artist on this panel? This question, and Heap's further assertion that "I'm not blaming anyone else - I'm blaming us", met with sustained applause from the audience, and a lively series of exchanges ensued about the real conditions for actors in Ireland - about how it's easier to get funding for community work than for professional performances from the Arts Council; how difficult it is to get mortgages and loans when you list "performer" as your profession; and about how it's up to actors themselves, the constituency who make up Equity, to debate and better their status.

This momentum continued in the final two impassioned presentations, which provided a valuable "big-picture, big-idea" context. South African actor Mabutho Sithole offered a detailed history of the last 10 years of struggle that the Performing Arts Workers Union, of which he is president, has undergone to assure that the new freedoms in his country are extended to its artists. Sithole underlined the necessity of constant lobbying and networking one's way to the highest levels of power to keep the arts on the national agenda; his message was the "empowerment of the artist through legislation" - bracing words for an Irish arts community whose future, in the form of the new Arts Bill, hangs in the balance in the current Dáil.

The final speaker, American theatre and opera director Peter Sellars, advanced his reputation as a showman by bringing up the house lights and launching a provocative opening salvo: "This is not about your stupid fucking bourgeois acting technique. This is about whether you have anything to say." Calling actors' employment woes "the least of my worries right now", Sellars opened up the perspective with his declamations on global injustice, poverty, and the current threat of world war, compellingly referring to theatre as "the demilitarized zone where people can meet and talk". It made an inspiring end to what was a scattershot series of impressions and testimonies; while SIPTU general president Des Geraghty made a briskly professional chair, there was not nearly enough connection made between the speakers' statements, nor to the actual conditions for performers in Ireland. It would have helped immeasurably if Rynagh O'Grady's closing comments - that this panel was meant to be a "springboard" for further discussion - had been offered and expanded on at the beginning of the event.

OVERALL attendance at the weekend's activities was patchy. The stalls of the Liberty Hall Theatre were about two-thirds full for this central panel, the numbers of Irish actors swelled by representatives of the International Federation of Actors, which held its meeting in Dublin to coincide with the conference. Less than 40 people had turned up the day before for Peter Sellars' public interview with Fintan O'Toole, also in Liberty Hall.

The weekend also comprised a series of 12 workshops on various aspects of the performing arts, open to the public and with generous concessions provided to students and members of trade unions and performing arts organisations. Film director John Lynch's seminar on acting for the screen drew a healthy group of several dozen actors on Saturday; and an opportunity to draw on the expertise of Andrew Wade, head of voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company, drew a capacity group of some 15 performers the following day. But other workshops had a more disappointing turnout, and one had to be cancelled completely when no one turned up. Embarrassingly, a special conference screening of Breillat's new film Sex is Comedy played to less than 15 people on Sunday morning.

Such problems with attendance do raise the question of the wisdom of scheduling a conference about and for actors during the busiest time of the Irish theatre year. While Equity was doubtless trying to benefit from and contribute to the high profile of theatre during the Dublin Theatre Festival and ESB Dublin Fringe Festival, this is the heaviest time of employment for actors, and their availability to attend events is limited. Several accomplished actors I spoke to several days before the conference didn't know it was going on; one confused it with Theatre Shop, one of the many theatre-oriented programmes and events that go on during these weeks.

That Equity is aware of and poised to address the very real concerns of the acting populace in Ireland is made clear by a document they have created, titled, like their conference, "The Status of Performing Artists and their Role in the Life of a Nation", which argues that performing arts have played a central role in Irish national life, from the filí and seanchaí, to Synge and O'Casey through to Brendan Gleeson and Brenda Fricker. It outlines 10 significant practical proposals for improving the lot of performing artists in Ireland, including special social welfare status for performing artists; pension plans; access to the tax exemption scheme for creative artists; eligibility for admission to Aosdána; and rights for compensation for work distributed through new media. It is a comprehensive and impressive plan, and one that Equity seems set on pursuing in the coming years.

It was not, however, referred to over the weekend, though it was distributed to the Equity membership nearly a year ago and to international participants more recently. According to O'Grady, the feeling among the planners was that the specifics of the document would detract from the conference's celebratory and internationally expansive vision. But the anxiety and passion that was expressed from the floor at Sunday's panel communicated clearly that it is exactly these practical problems that Ireland's actors are clamouring to address. The way this weekend panned out seems to indicate a disparity between the vision of the Equity executive and the rank and file of Irish actors. Whether it has created a momentum that will lead to greater unification - as well as to dialogue and action - remains to be seen.