Irish romantic theatrics outside the White House

Members of an Irish theatre company getting smoochy outside the White House.

From lattés to espressos:

How one theatre company is finding the energy to fight back against crippling funding cuts

One Thursday in February, office workers around Farragut Square in Washington DC must have thought there was whiskey in their lunch hour coffees. Without warning, two teams emerged from the snow and subjected passers-by in the busy business district to a brief, ferocious hurling match. Then, as quickly as they’d appeared, the teams dispersed into the crowd.

The previous Sunday, Valentine’s Day, saw a similarly unanticipated ‘flash mob’ converge to lock lips as a capella group Alchemy sang ‘Kissing you’. Over 100 actors shocked passers-by and DC police with their romance and affection, less than a few hundred metres from the White House.

These moments, bringing a temporary thaw to the city, were staged by Kildare theatre company The Performance Corporation and came this week as a strong and vibrant message to the Arts Council that they will continue to find inventive and creative ways to further the theatrical art form, despite the crippling cuts recently announced.

Jo Mangan, artistic director of The Performance Corporation, spoke to SIN direct from Washington DC, where she is still buzzing from their programme of ‘Theatrical Espressos’. She remains upbeat about the future of the company, despite the fact their funding has been cut almost 46% over the past two years. Yet, as we talk about the changes, her anger becomes clear. Essentially, she believes, there is now a fundamental question over whether we, as a nation, actually want the art of theatre to continue and grow in Ireland. Exasperated, she laments the fact that for a huge proportion of young and emerging theatre practitioners, the only future may now be abroad.

When Performance Corporation was founded almost eight years ago, the country seemed to be awash with money. Yet, Mangan is clear to emphasise that despite the perception that every latté consumed during a rehearsal was being charged to a government body, this was never the case. Like other theatre companies, they began with tightened purse strings and learned to manage and control any funding streams they tapped into. “We all run a tight ship,” she says. “We’ve always had to.” Yet, when your staff costs constitute in the region of 85% of your total expenditure, there is limited scope for the ‘administration cuts’ that are being sought.

The DC Gaels from The Performance Corporation and Solas Nua at Farragut Square Washington DC

The ramifications, Mangan is clear, will affect the entire ‘ecology of theatre’. And how, Mangan asks, can creativity burgeon in such an environment? She also poses the even more compelling question: How can we grow an audience for theatre as an art form in that environment?

By exchanging your lattés for espressos perhaps?! Performance Corporation teamed up with US based arts organization Solas Nua to arrange the ‘theatrical espressos’ of last week, and will continue to seek partners and other modes of funding. The future may be looking grim, but The Performance Corporation has had its caffeine fix and is ready to take it on.

By Ciara O'Dowd