Box office revenues at the Abbey Theatre last year rebounded by 29% from 2020 to €573,848 but still fell far short of pre-Covid-19 business.
The Abbey 'went dark' in March 2020 due to the pandemic and is now fully re-opened after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
According to the Abbey Theatre's 2021 Annual Review, box office income last year totalled €573,848 - which was a €128,719 increase on the box office revenue of €445,248 recorded in 2020.
However, the box office revenues last year represented a drop of 77% of pre-Covid box office income of €2.5 million in 2019.
The numbers to attend physical Abbey produced events last year totalled 18,066 - this compares to 116,494 that attended Abbey performances in 2019.
The Abbey last year sold 3,854 tickets for digital productions as only 11% of the Abbey Theatre's audience attended in person events due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
The annual review records that there were 148,000 views and listens of online Abbey content.
The Abbey last year received €7.5m in Arts Council funding.
The report states that 2021 "saw a long awaited and triumphant return to live theatre".
It records that the building reopened and there were 10 productions on the stages and four live productions out of the Abbey.
The return to live performance began with a capacity of 50 patrons with restrictions eased to allow houses of 50% just in time for the Dublin Theatre festival with the year closing of capacities of 70% at year end.
Commenting on the box office performance at the Abbey this year, an Abbey spokeswoman said: "Box-office is performing well and we are meeting our budgetary expectations for the year.
"While the theatre industry really suffered during Covid, it has been heartening to see the appetite of the audience for a return to live theatre and the steady increase in ticket sales in the year to date.
"To date this year we have just had one production that was available to view online – the rest have been live in-person performances," she said.
"As is the case with our colleagues across the sector, we do not expect to see our box-office returns to match pre Covid at this point. We have worked hard to ensure our audiences safety throughout Covid and have been pleasantly surprised by the speedy return of a large part of our audience.
The spokeswoman said, "We understand others need more time and we are keen to welcome them when the time is right. We need them and their support and we expect to see our audiences continue to grow over the next 12 months."
