Sir, - In the article "Just A Play" (Arts, July 29th), it is stated that the announcement by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland on the artistic unacceptability of the script for the play Forced Upon Us, to be produced by DubbelJoint Productions, was "made just a week before tomorrow night's opening gala" (Friday July 30th). I would refer you to the following chronology of events:
In February 1999 DubbelJoint productions was awarded a grant for the development of the script for the play Forced Upon Us. As a condition of this grant, DubbelJoint was required to deliver the script of the play to the Arts Council for assessment. No funding could be made towards the production of the play until this happened. DubbelJoint was fully aware of this.
In spite of continued pressure from Arts Council staff, no script was forthcoming until a first incomplete version was received on June 24th,1999. The Arts Council wrote to DubbelJoint on June 28th stating that we did not accept this as a completed script and that it was an essential requirement that the council had the opportunity to look carefully at the script before considering any production support. A second incomplete script was received on July 15th. This version was considered by the appropriate Arts Council professional advisers and was found to be artistically unacceptable. DubbelJoint was informed of the decision on July 22nd.
What was described as the complete script was delivered to the Arts Council at 5 p.m. on Monday, July 26th. This is once again being considered by the Arts Council's professional advisers as a matter of urgency.
Further, in response to the letter (July 30th) signed by several distinguished artists, I would point out that the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has not withdrawn funding from the DubbelJoint production of Forced Upon Us. It was a condition of the grant that the Arts Council could not consider funding this production until it had an opportunity to see the script for approval. I refer you to the above chronology.
We stand by our record of adamantly resisting any form of censorship, political or otherwise, in our decision-making process. We reject the allegation implied in this letter. - Yours, etc.,
Philip Hammond, Director of Performing Arts, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast.