The Stage

Barnes says sorry to Abbey board for email criticisms

Published Friday 1 October 2004 at 13:15 by Anthony Garvey

Ben Barnes, artistic director of Ireland’s national theatre, the Abbey, has apologised for outspoken criticisms of the board he made in an email sent to colleagues around the world.

The apology, made at an emergy meeting of the Abbey board held last week, has saved Barnes from being dismissed from the post with more than a year of his contract still to run.

The board called the session to discuss his position, following the comments he made about the board and its advisory council over the way in which the redundancy crisis at the theatre was being handled. In an email sent to “international colleagues”, Barnes had accused the board of attempting to make him a scapegoat for the crisis, in which 30 Abbey staff are to be made redundant as the theatre faces an end of year deficit of 2.5 million euros.

The email was sent to senior theatre figures in Britain and America, including the artistic directors of the English National Opera, the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and the San Jose Repertory Theatre. Barnes also claimed that the board had acted against his advice in announcing the staff reductions while he was he was in Australia directing The Gigli Concert and went on to denounce a motion of no confidence he faced at a subsequent Abbey shareholders’ meeting as “a disgraceful attempt” to oust him from his post. The motion was later defeated by a comfortable margin.

A statement said that after “frank and detailed discussions”, he had apologised at the emergency board meeting and confirmed that he “did not wish to maintain any criticisms of the board and the advisory council contained in the email”. He expressed his “deep regret at any unintentional damage it may have caused to the theatre”.

Barnes, who took over as artistic director in 2000, has already announced that he will not be seeking a renewal of his contract when it expires at the end of next year.

According to the statement he remains committed to the Abbey for the rest of his contract and the board has accepted his assurances to that effect.

However, the overall funding crisis remains unresolved. Opposition politicians and trade unions are calling on government, as the Abbey’s major shareholder, to outline its long-term financing plans.

Arts minister John O’Donoghue has promised only that he will name the site selected for the new Abbey before the end of the year.

A centenary fundraising drive had fallen far short of expectations, while special productions like Seamus Heaney’s Burial at Thebes did box office business of less than 40%.

But a production of The Shaughran, directed by John McColgan, proved such a huge hit with audiences that he hopes it may follow the route of his Riverdance success by touring America.