The Toy Show The Musical writer has opened up about her experience working on the show revealing that it was the “worst” experience of her career.
The accomplished Dublin playwright Lisa Tierney-Keogh co-wrote the script for the musical, based on the famed annual Toy Show, alongside Derry Girls actor Jamie Beamish.
Running for a total of three weeks at Dublin's Convention Centre in December 2022, ultimately ticket sales were well under what was expected at RTÉ.
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By the end of its run total ticket sales came to 11,044 sold, with an average price of €46.50, RTÉ would have had to sell out a whopping 70 per cent of its shows in the 1,995-seater venue just to break even, Buzz.ie reports.
Low ticket sales, compounded with multiple shows being cancelled last minute due to illness in the cast, the final number of tickets sold didn’t come close to what was needed to make the figure needed to justify its run.
Newly released figures in the wake of the pay scandal gripping the state broadcaster show the musical made a whopping loss of €2.2 million despite an investment of around €2.7 million from RTÉ.
In total, there was almost €340,000 spent on both marketing and press for the show, a figure that amounted to over double what had been earmarked in RTÉ's March 2022 budget.
Despite the whopping sum spent on the project, Tierney-Keogh has claimed that she, and other creatives working on the show, were still paid a "pittance" by RTÉ.
In a post on social media on Wednesday, Tierney-Keogh said that she "nearly fell over" when she saw the initial offer from RTÉ for the opportunity to write the show.
"When I pushed back, I was met with shock and staggering hubris," the award-winning playwright said.
"That I would dare to not accept the sh***y crumbs they were offering."
She added: "I was supposed to be grateful for being paid a paltry amount for what would turn out to be the worst working experience of my professional career.
"Eventually, I caved. I had to. Like many folks, my career was crushed by Covid and I needed to work."
