It is just as well that its new director, Fiach MacConghail, does not - unlike his predecessors - have to direct any of the forthcoming productions on the stage of the Abbey Theatre.
The drama off-stage, and cleaning up the financial mess he has inherited, will demand all his creative talents and resources.
The revelation that the company's deficit for 2004 is double that forecast is yet another spectacular disclosure. It raises, once again, serious questions about the governance and structures within the Abbey and in particular its financial accounting system.
Since the crisis of last September, when a serious shortfall in finances was first identified and staff cuts were proposed, there have been two reviews of internal operations - and provision of an extra €2 million in State funding. These reviews were set up as root-and-branch evaluations of every aspect of the Abbey. How neither of these processes - one by an in-house group and the other by an independent arts consultant sent in by the Arts Council - failed to detect the true extent of the deficit needs some clear explanation. Now yet another consultant's review is to be commissioned.
The resignation of the managing director, Brian Jackson, and the announcement that the artistic director, Ben Barnes, is stepping aside, comes a bit late in the day of this ongoing saga. While substantial responsibility lay with both of these figureheads, the board has to take its share of the blame. Executive management presents information but part of the role of any board is to probe this information.
The error in accounting which has been blamed for the substantial deficit now revealed implies long-running and ill-founded trust in structures that were far from adequate. The theatre's board had a duty to be more alert to the weaknesses in these structures. Why did it not more closely examine the cost of the international touring that resulted in the centenary year overspend?
Public opinion has been sympathetic to the Abbey and supportive of its role and importance in cultural life. But the ongoing need to pay for its financial mismanagement with more public funds will test public patience with the too-familiar repetition of crises at the Abbey. The news that a site in Dublin's docklands has been earmarked as a new home for the theatre is welcome. It has a touch of deja vu about it. It is hoped that the proposed site is the right solution to the theatre's needs.This week's events lead some to wonder about such an investment in an institution that has so badly mismanaged its affairs.