Alfred Hitchcock's famous observation that actors should be treated like cattle has just been echoed by Paraic Breathnach, former Arts Council member and founder of Galway's Macnas Theatre company.
However, unlike Hitchcock, who allegedly regarded actors with a certain disdain, Breathnach is calling for the implementation of a headage scheme, similar to that which exists for cattle, to help support performing artists.
It makes more economic sense to support performers than cattle, says Paraic, who is currently involved in launching, in Galway, a new performing company that will stage one of the largest shows of this year's Arts Festival.
The company, Fir Clis, which Paraic describes as a co-operative, is made up primarily of former Macnas performers, and the show it is staging, SITE, will show a side of Ireland's building industry never before seen.
Beginning with a green-field site, it will follow the process involved in getting planning permission, and show both the young couple trying to buy a house and the workers building the houses. Schemes and scams, auctions, politicians, brown envelopes, gazumping, dodgy construction, corners cut, music and loads of action will be provided by the 15-person Fir Clis team.
The concept was originated by Paraic and two other well-known members of Galway's arts community, Jane Talbot and Owen Mac Carthaigh. It's taken three years to bring to fruition, partly because of the difficulty of finding an arts organisation to stage it. When the three couldn't find a theatre company willing to take the risk, they decided to establish their own.
However, despite the backing of Galway Arts Festival and private supporters who include rock promoter Denis Desmond of MCD, funds remain tight, says Paraic. An application for Arts Council funding was refused on the basis that there was no additional money for such projects this year, and another fundraising venture by Fir Clis, which involved selling shares in the group, had to be scrapped because of legal complications.
Paraic is critical of the way actors are treated in Galway. "For me, this is a kind of flashback to 15 years ago when there was no outlet for actors in Galway and, despite the Celtic Tiger and an increase in Arts Council funding, there is still no outlet for acting talents here," he says. "The nature of conventional theatre and its trappings of huge productions and premises rarely leave enough room to employ artists."
Through his work with Macnas, Paraic played an enormous role in developing performance theatre in Ireland. This new group, however, has been set up simply to produce this show, which, he hopes, will tour Europe and have a life-span of three years.