Cork theatre launches urgent public appeal because of 'dire' financial situation
The interior of Cork Arts Theatre
It’s the small Cork theatre where future stars cut their teeth, and it’s in danger of closing. The Cork Arts Theatre, affectionately known as the CAT Club, is a 100-seater theatre where many of Cork’s best-known actors trod the boards for the first time.
“All but one of the cast of the Young Offenders started off in productions here,” CAT Club director Dolores Mannion says. “Cillian Murphy did his first gig here. The people who have come out of it are so successful, but they have to start somewhere.
“It’s a like a springboard for them to jump off, a place they can learn their craft and go on to do bigger and better things.” Covid-19 closures and restrictions have jeopardised the theatre’s future, so Mannion has launched a €20,000 crowd-funding campaign which she says can keep the theatre afloat until it can begin operating with some degree of normality again.
The CAT Club’s operating structure provides a platform for both amateur and professional productions; Mannion says this has made the theatre ineligible for many of the funding opportunities and Covid-19 relief schemes that have emerged for arts organisations.
“I spent lockdown making applications and getting rejections; it’s been very frustrating,” she says.
The theatre has sizeable mortgage repayments on their premises, on top of an annual €5,000 bar licence, paid this year despite the bar remaining closed under Covid-19 restrictions.
“When Covid hit we immediately took the offer of not paying the mortgage for six months, but then of course when you start paying, you have to pay it all off,” Mannion says. “The mortgage jumped from €3,400 per month to €4,400 per month. With no income, that’s huge.” The CAT Club first opened in 1976, upstairs on Lower John Street, one of the city’s historic narrow laneways. A refuge for the city’s arts and theatrical community, it operated the city’s only late bar and was members only. A 30-seat theatre staged four productions a year in order for the venue to retain its late licence.
“The truth is, they were to hang on to the bar licence,” Mannion says with a laugh. “Really, it was a social venue for people involved in the theatre. When everything was closed in Cork and an artist couldn’t get a drink after a show, everybody ran to the Cork Arts Theatre. It was a drinking den, there was no two ways about it. But over the years, it has become a venue in its own right.” Mannion says it was common for the CAT Club to host production meetings for bigger shows in theatres like Cork Opera House and the Everyman.
In 2006, The CAT Club moved to a bigger purpose-built space in a new development nearby, taking out a mortgage and making ends meet by renting the theatre to all comers: small touring productions rubbed shoulders with amateur productions whose merits were largely in their community value and the training ground they provided to aspiring actors.
Prior to March 2020, things were on the up for the CAT Club: they had been awarded a one-off grant of €30,000 from the Arts Council, their remaining mortgage was €65,000, and they were eagerly anticipating a busy year.
“In January we had our board meeting and we were very happy,” Mannion says. “We had 49 productions booked in. We were looking forward to having the mortgage paid off and doing things we’ve never done before, like splits with companies. But the plan was always to reserve one week per month for amateur productions; we don’t want to become cliquey.” When restrictions were eased during the summer, the CAT Club was able to open to an audience of 28; they also had to invest in items like PPE for staff and plastic dividers to be able to operate in line with health advice.
At the time of writing, the crowdfunding campaign had raised €8,800 of its €20,000 target.
Mannion has, she says, “serious qualms” about asking the public to essentially bail the theatre out during what is a time of hardship and uncertainty for many.
“The GoFundMe page was set up because we’re in a dire situation,” she says. “But I think everyone is in desperate situations at the moment. I’m not trying to raise enough to pay off the mortgage; €20,000 is enough to keep our doors open. I don’t expect to be able to open on the first of January but if we can keep going until the middle of the year and meet our expenses, we’ll be fine.”
