Theatres post €200,000 profit

Theatres last year made a profit of about €200,000 and attracted 209,003 patrons to 314 productions, 22 per cent more than in the previous year, according to official data.

The National Statistics Office said theatres had a total revenue of €1.4 million and spent €1.2 million.

Concerts were the most popular (24 per cent), followed by musicals (17 per cent) and comedy (13 per cent), according to the NSO.

The number of shows rose by 70 over the previous year, 58 per cent of which were concerts.

Statistics showed that theatres hosted an average of almost two performances per production, which totalled 579. Concerts had the lowest number of shows while dramatic plays had the highest runs, followed by musicals and comedy.

Last year, theatres employed 61 workers and 102 volunteers, mostly men. Of these, 13 were working on a full-time basis.