Sir, - As the British owners of the Gaiety Theatre consider its future, perhaps it is time for the State, in partnership with Dublin Corporation, to step in and purchase the historic Victorian venue.
Although I am not an avid opera enthusiast, I do believe the theatre should be developed as an opera house. Every capital city in Europe, except Dublin, has a dedicated venue for opera and with sell-out shows during festivals here, I would be confident that it would be a success.
But, alas, we're in Ireland and such issues tend to develop into long, drawn-out sagas of operatic proportions, with incomprehensible decisions taken. Perhaps an opera plot could be developed around this theme with "Ministerial arias", "City Hall divas" and a few "tenors and fivers" thrown in. As the English poet W. H. Auden wrote: "No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible."
Terribly Irish, wouldn't you say? -Yours, etc.,
Erick Dillon, Seafield Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3.