Two popular Kilkenny festivals have been slated for not using the city’s civic theatre as a venue for festival gigs this year.
Ger Cody, manager of the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny, was speaking at this month’s meeting of Kilkenny Borough Council when he told the members that the Watergate was suffering from a lack of support from local festivals and from other travelling theatres in recent times.
“I would call on theatre groups to think before going to other venues just because they are free of charge,” he said. “We could never compete with the rates on offer in venues such as the Set but we have a wonderful theatre with all the facilities on offer to groups.
“There are three major festivals in Kilkenny during the summer months and last year the Rhythm and Roots festival didn’t host one event in the Watergate. This year is the same, and also this year the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival is not hosting any of their events in the local civic theatre,” Mr Cody pointed out.
He added that other venues are free of charge to organisers and so they are obviously more attractive, but he called on festivals to support the local theatre and he added that theatre groups that are Arts Council funded should be obliged to use civic theatres.
“I know the festivals send out letters to businesses looking for funding but I would ask people to think twice before supporting them, and groups that are funded by the Arts Council should also be required to use the Arts Council funded civic theatres,” he added. “I look at the other theatres around the country such as the Dunamaise in Portlaoise and the Source in Thurles and envy what they have. We have no money to extend the theatre as we would like. It would be wonderful to be able to add a cafe and to secure a bar licence for the Watergate and we would like the council to investigate the possibility of acquiring the Diageo car park next to the theatre with a view to extending our theatre to include these facilities.”
The Watergate Theatre currently employs seven people and has some 30 volunteers who help out with its productions, which take place at least three times a year. Proceeds from these productions are put directly back into the theatre.
“We bring professional theatre to our city and we would love to see our theatre as a centre for the arts akin to other theatre spaces. Currently we don’t even have a costume room. An extension would mean the world. During the day the theatre would become a hub of activity if there was a cafe and other spaces available. However, we really need the support of everyone in order to keep this show on the road.”
Chairman of the Watergate, Brian Tyrrell, town clerk, said: “The biggest difficulty is that the theatre is losing money, and if we don’t stem this it will become more difficult in the future. We need a two-pronged approach and we need to be up-front about the finances.”
All the members agreed support should be garnered for the theatre and it was also agreed that the council should speak with Diageo regarding the purchase of the car park in the future, although it was acknowledged that financially, “this was not a great time”.
