REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE CENTENARY OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE ABBEY THEATRE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION TO CELEBRATE THE CENTENARY OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE ABBEY THEATRE
Dia dhíbh go léir agus fáilte go dtí Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
Both Martin and I are delighted to welcome you to Áras an Uachtaráin to celebrate the centenary of the Abbey, our National Theatre. We mark its achievement of this venerable age by gathering in gratitude for the many people who made the Abbey, the writers, actors, directors , designers, staff, board, the audiences, the funders. Each helped give to Ireland and places much further afield the unmatchable gift of theatre. It is a matter of great national pride that, not only did the Abbey courageously establish a platform upon which to build a firm foundation for a century’s achievements in Irish theatre but with its international reach it created a renaissance of drama in the U.S.A and inspired stimulated playwrights on every continent.
The Abbey Theatre was founded at a time of social, political and intellectual ferment in Ireland and its story is well-woven into the fabric of our nation. It was not in those early years the only outlet for Irish dramatists, directors and actors, but it was the most ambitious and that ambition was not simply for itself. It set out to do nothing less than reassert the national and cultural identity, the genius of a nation which was at risk of being smothered in establishment orthodoxy. The names of its champions are legendary and it is fascinating to see among them the names of so many women, among them Maud Gonne, Agusta Gregory and the English philanthropist Annie Horniman, each a sign of contradiction and a powerful revelation of how much our world benefits when it no longer wastes or corrals the talents of significant groups of human beings.
Yeats’ own vision of the Abbey at its inception was a vision of the future not just of drama but of Ireland. These ten decades have brought considerable applause and the predictable quota of criticism and controversy any such profound agent provocateur must suffer as the price of freedom of expression and indeed welcome as a badge of distinction. They all form part of the Abbey’s own dramatic history and we can say with certainty that it could not have survived unless the applause ultimately drowned out the voices of doubt and even derision.
Much of the success of the Abbey as a National Theatre is demonstrated by the relationship it has with its public. The Abbey evokes emotions and opinions from its audiences, fans, critics and even the non-theatre going public in a way that other theatres and institutions can only envy. It has been both an important source of commentary on changing times and a shaper of the events of the day. It is ironic to see the very plays that were part of those heady days of riots and police intervention, now essential parts of the canon of internationally acclaimed successes of the twentieth century and I am pleased that both Synge's The Playboy of the Western World in 1907, and O'Casey’s The Plough and the Stars will tour as part of the Abbey's centenary celebrations.
The Abbey has had a remarkable role as a working writers’ theatre, premiering no fewer than 725 new works since its foundation. The recent award of two “writers-in-association” bursaries, to playwrights Hilary Fannin and Mark O’Rowe, is a contemporary manifestation of that dynamic engagement with new writing and of course the success of previous recipients such as Frank McGuinness, Billy Roche, Declan Hughes and Sebastian Barry both vindicates the Abbey’s wisdom and gives us great hope for the future.
On this birthday we first look back down the sweep of a century with gratitude and respect, stirring up old memories, calling to mind events and people that have entered legend and those almost forgotten. We also look to the next one hundred years, starting as they do in this well-educated, increasingly sophisticated and confident Ireland where the challenges facing the Abbey are formidable, perhaps even more formidable than those in previous generations.
2004 represents a new beginning for the Abbey, a past to be proud of, to learn from and to build on, a legacy that must be a garden and not a mausoleum. The Ireland it addresses stands centre stage in Europe, as Presidency of the European Union and as host of enlargement. It is very fitting then that the Abbey should host performances by three leading European theatre companies. The Union’s founding father Jean Monet remarked that if he was starting the union again he would start with culture and this audience knows better than most what he meant and how important a human dynamic is intercultural curiosity.
I congratulate the board, staff and artists of the Abbey Theatre for marking 2004 with a groundbreaking programme. Its five strands showcase the richness of our nation’s dramatic heritage, the vitality of our contemporary writing and bear testimony to how these stand shoulder to shoulder with the great classics of European and World theatre.
As custodians of our National Theatre you bear huge responsibilities and face your own audiences in the form of public opinion. You have to make great theatre and you also have to make it pay. Each performance has to be the best. Few people truly understand the sheer scale of the work necessary to create and sustain a century of artistic excellence and no words of mine could ever hope to adequately reward the role each of you and many others has played in giving Ireland this legendary name - the Abbey. But I do hope that in some small way this evening’s gathering is a recompense for all the thank-yous owed to you by the Irish people and an encouragement to you as you recommit to this unique vocation, this century old ambition of making our National Theatre the best it has ever been.
I would like to thank Paul Kennedy, our MC this afternoon, the wonderful Graffiti Classics and the three very-talented harpists, Mary Kelly, Mary O’Donnell, and Theresa O’Donnell who have entertained us so well. I would also like to thank our friends from Civil Defence for their expert assistance and the staff at the Áras for all their hard work to make today a success and enjoyable for everyone.
Go maire sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.