by Bernie English
ONE of the pivotal issues that sparked the row leading to Karl Wallace’s resignation from the City of Culture project was the board’s refusal to sign off on the act which was to be showpiece the street performances.
French-based performing giants, Royale de Luxe, were to come at a cost to the project of €1.8million, almost one-third of the budget for the year.
However, inside sources have put the fee to the theatre group itself at €300,000 with the rest of the spend providing much-needed work locally for every skill from technicians and sound engineers to local artists.
Pat Cox said at the press call on Friday 3 that the prospect of engaging the troupe was “on amber”, pending a reduction in costs and increased resources.
Now critics of the board’s indecision on signing off the performance say Limerick has saved pennies to lose pounds.
Mary Coll, former director of the Belltable Arts Centre said the event could be “massive” for Limerick city.
‘It sounds like an enormous amount of money but it would be an incredible event. When you think that putting on a professional play can cost between €200,000 and €300,000, you can see why it would cost so much”.
She pointed out that costs include a fee to the theatre company itself, “then there’s tax to be paid to the Government for bringing in a foreign act and the rest is spent locally. There would be a big kick-back to the local economy, What people are forgetting is that this company came to Galway a few years ago. Galway weren’t afraid of it – why should we be?”
She added that the possibility of a private sponsor or sponsors to pick up some of the costs could be looked at.
Cllr Tom Shortt, who has been a vocal critic of the City of Culture Board told the Limerick Post the event “would be an international attraction on an enormous scale. The city would be thronged with visitors”.
He added that the spend locally would be very welcome. “You need an enormous workforce to stage something like that. Karl Wallace was asked to come up with a vision and when he did he was belittled by people who have no vision at all”.
Royale de Luxe describes itself as “a company of inventors, stuntmen, poets and scrap-dealers all at once, led by Jean-Luc Courcoult. Royal de Luxe are currently considered to be an iconic, almost mythical, street theatre company – equal to the Theatre du Soleil for conventional indoor theatre”.
