This Much I Know: Willie White, Artistic Director of the Dublin Theatre Festival

I’m a rational thinker. I don’t really believe in fate.

I’m motivated by ideas and the desire to create things together with other people.

I was a bookish child. I had absolutely no plans to work in the arts. I grew up in Abbeyleix, County Laois. I don’t think I had even heard of ‘the arts’ in the 1970s. For nine of those years we only had one television channel.

I played the tin whistle and was involved in the usual school plays. I don’t know why – I always thought I was shy – but somehow I was chosen to take part in the 1982 Community Games. As I recall, we were completely out-classed.

I’m not ruthless. I was always ambitious in the sense of wanting to do things – I have a big appetite for doing interesting things, but not in the sense of having a distinct career path.

After school, I went to University College Dublin. I didn’t get my first choice which was law – my father was a solicitor – probably because I had been day-dreaming too much during classes. So I began to study science, which my career guidance teacher had suggested as an option. On the way to lectures one day someone told me about the Dramsoc auditions. I went along and that is how I became involved in acting and directing plays. I always enjoyed acting but never considered it as a career.

Looking back, I do sometimes think that if I had my time over again I’d be a lot more focussed and planned, in career terms. But then I think you can’t do that, not really, and with distance I try and have a little more empathy for myself and the mistakes I have made along the way.

I have certainly grown in confidence as I have become older. Sometimes I look at younger people and am amazed at how confident they appear – then I realise that it is simply that they look more confident.

I worked for RTÉ for four years on the television arts programmes Later with John Kelly and The View before I became artistic director of Project Arts Centre in 2002. I’ve been working in Dublin’s East Essex Street ever since.

My family comes first. I am pretty disciplined, but you have to be when you have three children aged ten, seven and two years. One of the good things about my job is that even during the busiest weeks of the Dublin Theatre Festival I get to walk the kids to school.

The best advice I ever received was to ‘gather evidence and gain permission’. Whenever I am starting something new or learning how something works for first time, I try to remember that advice.

Some of the traits I most value in other people are reliability, kindness and emotional intelligence.

My biggest fault is impatience. In management theory terms I’m what is categorised as a starter not a finisher.

My idea of misery is to have to turn up each day for a job where I am not excited to walk in the door. I’m lucky that what I do for a living is an extension of my life. I enjoy it and get to work with interesting and talented people.

I took up running in 2012. I have not become a fanatic, although I have just completed a half marathon and am set to do the full marathon in October. That’s the plan. It gives me something to aim for once this year’s Dublin Theatre Festival is over.

I have very little down time. The festival is a full-time job. Once it is over, there is all the reporting and financial work to complete. There is a little down time around December each year but we plan very far ahead. We are already planning for 2015 and 2016.

I think theatre is and always will be part of the social and cultural life of the city.

The festival is not just about importing international work, it is a platform for Irish work.

I believe that life is constantly full of challenges – bereavements, losses and developments at work. Change is the norm. We live in a dynamic environment.

One of my pet hates is people cycling on the pavement.

Instead of allowing myself to become stressed by things, I just try to work harder. It is not always a solution, but it is a nice aspiration.

So far life has taught me to try to get it right and to be nice to people now – not to defer it.

The Dublin Theatre Festival runs until October 12 when 28 world-class productions will be staged across 21 different venues in Dublin city and suburbs. The programme includes over 10 world premieres from great Irish writers and companies, alongside an extensive programme of international work. Tickets for all shows are on sale now. www.dublintheatrefestival.com

Hilary Fennell