A Christmas Carol is at the Gate Theatre and Michael Colgan thinks the spirit of Scrooge is alive at the Arts Council.
Mr Colgan, the Gate's director, is enraged about a letter from the council received by the Gate yesterday. The letter, sent by e-mail, says that the council wants to "agree the schedule of artistic programming for which the council's grant is offered".
"It is the most offensive, provocative letter I've ever received - it's the nearest thing to artistic interference - it's the thin end of an awful wedge coming in," Mr Colgan said.
The Arts Council does not want its grant to fund certain shows at the Gate: "specifically, the council does not wish its funding to be associated with revivals of earlier productions, or with popular summer and Christmas shows".
This, according to Mr Colgan, would mean penalising the theatre if a show is successful.
The theatre is reviving a production of Waiting for Godot in January, and it's like being told "the Arts Council want their logo off because they don't want to be associated with it", he said.
"We are hugely recognised outside the country and we are invited all over the world and to be told 'we would like to agree this with you' is unacceptable."
Last night Ms Patricia Quinn, Arts Council director, said: "We have no desire to interfere in the artistic programming of the Gate or any other theatre - we never have and we're not about to start now.
"We would rather attach our funding of the Gate to those aspects that are not popular programming or revivals."
The message from the council and the Gate reaction recalls the memory of the bitter war of public words last summer between the theatre and the council about its level of funding.
Mr Colgan said this year's grant cut was 11 per cent. Last year's grant was €675,000; this year the Gate is receive €600,000 if it agrees to accept the funding.
