Member spotlight

Millbank Theatre

This month, we’re highlighting the great work done by Millbank Theatre in Rush, Co. Dublin as they prepare to celebrate ten years of their Millbank Movies programme.

An access>CINEMA member since their cinema programme kicked off in 2015, Millbank Theatre has seen great audience growth in the last few years – driven by strong film programming, a committed audience, and a refurbishment of their cinema space.

Great attendance numbers across the board have been further bolstered by some recent Irish and international favourites. Their recent screening of Small Things Like These became an extra special event thanks to the attendance of Aoife Gaffney from Balbriggan, who played Grace Furlong in the film.

Millbank’s Director Sean Corcoran has kindly put together some thoughts on ten years of movie nights:

This year Millbank Theatre Movies reaches its 10th anniversary. Like most new programs, it takes time to grow the audience. Our annual drama festival took 10 years to attain full houses, which it has enjoyed since 2010. Audiences need to be coaxed just a little. So too with the Cinema Club. We had a natural venue for cinema and, in 2015, having applied to access>CINEMA for membership, we purchased a 5m screen and with a sound system donated to us by the owner of Glen Dimplex. We screened Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure to our first audience of 25 patrons. That’s where the journey began and continued for the next few years.

With great support from Maeve and her team at access, as well as networking with other like-minded programmers at seasonal meetings (eagerly listening for that magical expression ‘no brainer’ and the recommendation of clubs like the East Cork Cinema Club) we put our program together for the next few years – some choices popular and some not so. But our audiences stayed at the 25 number for those formative years as we learned our craft.

Our screening format is casual – free tea and coffee, while introductory chat is kept light (simply passing on some appropriate tag lines and the odd piece of trivia to inform our patrons). They tend to let the committee decide the program – despite the seasonal emails to ask for their assistance they seem to trust us, and the Club Director has learned a little over the years too.

Our admission price has been kept at €7 plus booking fee. In 2019, just before COVID hit, we had a refurbishment of our Auditorium and in 2022 we invested heavily in a new sound system. Thus the whole cinema event took on a new dimension. It became a really pleasant experience.

Numbers began to grow as word spread about the “real” cinema experience at the Millbank, and we found our base to be at 50+ mark in 2024. Since then – with some clever programming, improved advertising and the selection of some Irish blockbusters like Tim Mielant’s Small Things Like These, Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap , and the odd Oscar nominee – we have sold out our small, intimate 140-seater cinema on numerous occasions. Now we know we have the formula we need to ensure our selection process is clever and entertaining.

With help from access>CINEMA – who also know our audience – hopefully we can continue to grow. Cinema audiences are different from our normal theatre audiences, and we have learned that too which has helped greatly, but we are only as good as our last screening. Here’s to the next 10 years.

Millbank Theatre

Chapel Green,

Rush,

Co. Dublin.

Website

Member spotlight archive

August 2024 – Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford

September 2024 – My Little Film Club, Dublin 4

October 2024 – Esker Arts Centre / Eagla Fest, Tullamore

November 2024 – Sligo Film Society, Sligo

December 2024 – Kilcullen Bridge Cinema

February 2025 – The Picture House / Wexford Film Society

March 2025 – Source Arts Centre, Thurles

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