Funding. That is the one word that haunts the majority of theatre practitioners in Ireland. This is primarily because, without it, a professional production is nigh impossible. Saying that, there are still a few brave souls willing to roll the dice without The Arts Council’s support.
A monologue might have some hope of breaking even, financially. A two-hander is likely to rely on full houses just for the production to wash its face. With a cast of three or more, there is probably more chance of Leitrim lifting the Sam Maguire Cup than a theatre company walking away with a profit.
The reality is, that a large percentage of unfunded productions run at a loss. This means that smaller companies, often operated by a single person, must take the enormous risk of putting up their own money to stage a play with little or no hope of making it back.
This brings us to Haw Theatre, run by writer, director and actor, Bernard Field, who is originally from Dublin, but has lived in Galway since 2007.
The Haw Theatre model is unique, in that it is a profit-sharing one. Although, as Field puts it himself, oft-times there is no profit. In other words, actors agree to take part, knowing that they will not be paid a wage, but may stand to make something on the back end of a production, if it is a success. This unconventional approach has allowed Field to continue to produce good work in an environment that makes it increasingly difficult to do so.
For example, he was recently unsuccessful in his application for The Arts Council’s Agility Award. Out of 173 eligible theatre applications, only 18 were funded: a frustrating and disheartening sign for struggling artists up and down the country.
The overall budget for the Agility Award – which is specifically for ‘professional artists and arts practitioners who have not been previously funded as an individual’ – had been significantly cut from last year. It highlights the issue of Irish theatre’s upper echelon taking the largest piece of the pie, leaving those who are not part of the established order to scrounge for scraps. Yet, rather than bemoan the current state of affairs, Field has found a different way to create.
Haw Theatre’s next venture is a revival of one of Field’s earlier plays, Last Train from Holyhead, which came to prominence after a 2009 production starring the great Mick Lally. The much-missed Irish Theatre Magazine described it as “a human tale around the themes of identity, belonging and displacement… a story you will remember and are sad to have heard as you step off the train.”
The play features local actors Cally O’Connell, Sara Giammanco and Michael Irwin. I was kindly invited into the rehearsal room, which proved to be a riveting experience. The language in the play is powerful, and the piece itself is very intimate, which should work well in Galway’s Town Hall Studio. There is still a lot of work to be done, but hard graft is not something that this group is likely to shy away from.
After observing for a few hours, it became clear that Haw Theatre is every bit as important to the cultural fabric of Galway as Druid or Decadent. Yes, we are blessed in this small city to have an array of eminent theatre companies that consistently deliver high-quality, big budget productions; but we need the outsiders too. Against all the odds and with very few resources, Field is still somehow managing to get plays to the stage, and that is certainly something worth supporting.
Last Train from Holyhead, written and directed by Bernard Field, runs at The Town Hall Studio from September 23 to 27.
Tickets €17/€14 from www.tht.ie
