Madam, - Sara Keating's feature article (November 25th) on the publication of Ben Barnes's diaries of his "turbulent times" while artistic director at the Abbey Theatre quotes a diary entry which reads: "I think that the programme which we are now committed to will stretch us to the limits in terms of our financial resources and our manpower, and diverting energies into projects like recordings of Abbey plays for broadcast, and helping out John Lynch's RTÉ documentary on the Abbey may be bridges too far for an already overstretched organisation."
The truth is that the "helping out" on my documentary, The Abbey Theatre - The First 100 Years, was minimal on the executive side of things.
The documentary was in many ways made almost by stealth and in spite of Ben who seemed to make every effort to avoid us.
Were it not for the fact that I knew the excellent archivist personally and many of the friendly back stage staff at the Abbey I doubt the documentary would have been made at all.
Poor Ben seemed like a man under siege and it was in an atmosphere of seeming indifference that we soldiered on and were "let in" by the staff.
We did not interfere in any way with the Abbey's work schedule, working mainly in down time, and we did not get any financial support from the Abbey.
I therefore fail to see how we could have contributed to stretching "to the limits" the manpower and financial resources at the Abbey. The "recording of Abbey plays for broadcast" referred to by Ben had nothing to do with us and were not used in the documentary.
We tried and failed for about two years to shoot an interview with Ben Barnes. On one occasion we had set up in the Four Seasons Hotel, only to get a call to say Ben wanted to do the interview in his own office.
We had so much to do that day that we could not accommodate this request. On another occasion we were told he had gone to America and couldn't do the interview. All contact was through intermediaries so I have no idea how aware Ben was of the difficulty being caused to us.
Many other attempts were made until we finally gave up. Eventually I showed the documentary to the board of the Abbey and they asked why their current artistic director was not in it.
My reply was something like: "You tell me". As far as I know Ben was instructed to contact me, which he did, but even then would not agree to do an interview until he had seen the documentary. Three weeks passed in which he could not decide where he would do this, in his office or in mine. Finally a decision, he would come to see me.
He arrived, a half hour late, and sat silently through the screening. When it had finished he looked at the floor and said "You have airbrushed me out of history".
After various toings and froings as to what questions he would and would not answer, we shot an interview in Ben's office in the Abbey. He dealt with it well and I hope he is happy with the extracts we included in the final cut.
The considerable expense involved in re-cutting the documentary and interviewing Ben Barnes was covered by Abbey Board member John McColgan.
As a shareholder at the Abbey during Ben's years as artistic director, I witnessed much off- stage and behind the scenes drama. I did not at the time join in the hysteria against him nor did I vote to have him removed in the vote of "no confidence".
He eventually stepped aside when his position became untenable and I hope he has found a happier place now. Ben's time in charge of the Abbey coincided with an unfortunate period in the Abbey's history.
It was a very difficult time to make a documentary celebrating 100 years of remarkable achievement at our National Theatre. - Yours, etc,
JOHN LYNCH,
Film-Maker,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.