Dublin Theatre Festival more than doubles profits

Sell-out crowds who wanted to see Love/Hate's Tom Vaughan-Lawlor put on a stellar performance last year at the Dublin Theatre Festival contributed to its profits more than doubling.

Vaughan-Lawlor starred alongside Sinéad Cusack and Ciarán Hinds at the Abbey Theatre in Mark O'Rowe's critically acclaimed Our Few and Evil Days.

New accounts lodged with the Companies Office show that profits at the firm that operates the theatre festival last year increased by 151 per cent from €12,598 the previous year to €31,669.

The increase in profit came in spite of revenues dipping slightly from €1.9 million to €1.89 million.

Revenue from ticket sales last year increased from €450,568 to €478,782.

The largest proportion of income for the festival comes from the Arts Council, which provided grant funding of €766,000 towards the event last year, the same as in 2013.

The festival also received other sponsorship, including non-cash items, totalling €355,378, while it also obtained €105,830 from “funding agencies”.

Last year, it used the Bórd Gáis Energy Theatre for the first time with a staging of Hamlet opening the festival.

The surplus last year of €31,669 helped the festival to reduce its accumulated losses from €80,903 to €49,234.

According to the directors’ report, “the directors have reduced this deficit and are committed to reducing this further in 2015 and subsequent years”.

The festival firm’s cash pile last year increased from €7,270 to €153,381.

The firm also recorded a further reduction in costs from €1.895 million to €1.868 million and this followed a cost reduction of €343,000 in 2013.

The number of people employed by the festival reduced by one to 22 with staff costs falling from €454,290 to €424,273.

This year's 18-day festival features the Irish premiere of Conor McPherson's play The Night Alive.