Mr. Neil Murray:

I will speak on the length of the runs and casting issues, which are important. The length of the runs does not depend on who is directing but on the show and how long of a run it is thought a particular show can sustain. "On Raftery's Hill" by Marina Carr was a brilliant piece of work but it was not the best-attended show of the year by any means. We ran it for three weeks and it did really well and was critically acclaimed. If one wants bums on seats, one would not necessarily programme that play or many of the other plays that we programme. We want people to come to the theatre but we programme the theatre from an artistic imperative. The works must be brilliant, in our view. A play such as "On Raftery's Hill", which is fantastic and achieved everything we wanted it to achieve, is a hard sell, if I am honest. To run that show for six weeks would not make sense economically or for the performers. They would be paid, which would be fantastic, but they would not play to big houses over a six week run of that show. Other shows are different and I do not want to focus on just one artistic director.

To pick up briefly on casting, a head of casting left in 2017. In discussion with that person at that time, we decided we would trial not having an in-house casting director. We ceded that role to the head of producing, which was a new post, and we also worked with freelance casting directors who are of the highest standard. I will be specific because this was raised by Mr. Conlon. The show, "Come on Home", was directed by the freelance director, Rachel O'Riordan, who worked with a casting director to cast the show. There is a process, and a route through a casting director and a director to be cast. When Graham McLaren casts his shows, he tends to hold very large open workshops of up to 100 people and then narrows it down from there. There is a process in place. I accept that it is certainly something we need to address. If the actors, casting directors and agents feel it is not working, we need to look at it and we will do so.