THE SPEECHES:IT WAS a night for the "celebration of theatre," Gerry Smyth managing editor of The Irish Timestold over 450 attendees at The Irish TimesTheatre Awards in Dublin's Vicar Street. "The focus of this event is about a gathering of the clan, making possible this one night when you can take a rest from what you do best, relax in each other's company and, for a few hours at least, put aside all thoughts of how to make ends meet in a time of tighter budgets."
It was not just the Irish theatre that faced tighter budgets this year however, as the change in venue and format for this year’s awards ceremony testified. “In keeping with these lean and hungry times, we are not giving you dinner this year,” acknowledged Smyth. “But there will be the usual takeaways.”
He paid tribute to absent colleagues, former Irish Timestheatre critic Gerry Colgan and the newspaper's former film correspondent Michael Dwyer, adding a note of appreciation to the outgoing Irish Timesmanaging director Maeve Donovan, for her support of the event over the years.
Acknowledging some of the controversies stirred by this year’s nominations, Smyth noted they were a source of “debate, argument, bewilderment and contentious comment” on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. In response, he quoted WH Auden: “Between friends, differences in taste or opinion are irritating in direct proportion to their triviality”. He went on to pay tribute to this year’s judges, Sara Keating, Ian Kilroy and Bernadette Madden. Speaking on their behalf, Keating acknowledged that this is a difficult moment for Irish theatre. “The fragility of the creative enterprise has been at the forefront of conversations in the theatre community over the last two years, and no more so on this evening of celebration, which is also to some extent an occasion of mourning, for the loss of 11 important theatre companies, several of whom have been nominated across the categories tonight,” she said to resounding applause. “There may at least be some reassurance from looking at the list of nominations that the devastating cuts are not being made for artistic reasons,” she said.
Yet despite these difficulties, Keating was hopeful about the possibilities. “We are optimistic that the creativity of Ireland’s theatre artists will still find a way to overcome the challenges and adversity of the current climate. While there is no escaping the crucial necessity for a cohesive strategy for nurturing the fragile theatre infrastructure in Ireland, Irish artists have always proved themselves to be adaptable to circumstance and we hope that in 2010, the companies and artists who have found themselves so suddenly without the stability of arts council funding will find a way to make their artistic vision possible.”
She paid tribute to the “visible generosity” of established companies and theatres who have helped out those without resources.
She also pointed out the difficulties that faced the judges in comparing the many unique theatrical experiences. “I believe that it is the strength of Irish theatre that no two productions, no two theatre companies, can be compared simply as like with like. The diversity of work that is being celebrated here tonight is testament to that.”