'The arts sector has learned never to take anything for granted'

Director of 'Philadelphia, Here I Come', Cork's first major dramatic presentation since Covid, says Irish theatre is in a good place but a new generation of playwrights need funding and support

Actors Shane O'Regan and Alex Murphy with director Geoff Gould (centre) of Philadelphia, Here I Come! gather in the Cork Opera House on the first day of rehearsals. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

As the normal life of Ireland slowly returns after 18 months of enforced lockdown, one of the most heartfelt welcomes will doubtless be extended to the reappearance of live theatre.

Philadelphia, Here I Come!, the modern classic by playwright Brian Friel, is the first major dramatic presentation for live audiences in Cork since the easing of restrictions, and will run at the Opera House from October 5 to 16. 

Having premiered in 1964, it remains one of the playwright’s masterpieces, followed by Translations, Dancing at Lughnasa and The Faith Healer. Set over the final day of Gar O’Donnell’s life in his native village of Ballybeg, it examines themes of escape and emigration as he prepares for a new life in America.

For theatre director Geoff Gould, taking the reins of this classic harks back to a prescient newspaper interview he recalled from 30 years ago.

“It was 1991 and I remember a journalist asking me a final question — ‘what would be your dream play to direct?’ I answered, without hesitation, Brian Friel’s Philadelphia Here I Come!

Cast and crew gather in the Cork Opera House for rehearsals. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

“Strangely enough, the reason I answered the question easily and quickly was that I had been to see a superb production of the play at the Cork Opera House that same year," Geoff explains.

Three decades later, the prospect of directing that dream play became a belated reality when producer Pat Talbot rang to offer him this 2021 production at the Cork Opera House.

“I genuinely thought he might have come across an old copy of the 1991 interview and was having a laugh at my expense. In the intervening years the chances of directing a production of that size, with a cast of 14, was and is considered unviable. I couldn’t believe it when he said he wasn’t joking.”

Enabled through the Government’s Live Performance Support Scheme, the production marks another significant milestone in Geoff’s career: 

It will be a joy to direct Friel’s wonderful, iconic, play and my all-time favourite, in my native city.

Acknowledging that while Covid restrictions have been hard on many sectors of the business community, Geoff underlines how particularly the venue capacity restrictions have hit the general theatre community.

“Those of us working in theatre feel particularly aggrieved by the restrictions. To be ‘given permission’ to resume our theatre work after 18 months of inactivity is a welcome relief. 

"I am under no illusion that there are people who have had a far more stressful and difficult journey through the pandemic than those of us working in theatre.”

He points to the doctors, nurses and the many people in the retail sector “who had no choice but to work in the community throughout the pandemic, many putting their own health at risk, they have earned all our gratitude and respect”.

From banking to theatre

A native of north Cork, Geoff left school in 1981, just as Ireland began to grapple with a protracted economic downturn. Having opted for a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Limerick, followed by a European Studies degree at UCC, his career path tracked an uncertain trajectory until eventually taking a position with the then Cork Savings Bank.

Over 15 years in charge of mortgages and agricultural loans, he eventually rose to assistant lending manager — until the auspicious day he chanced upon theatre.

“One day I was in the butcher’s next door to the bank and this lady from Mallow, who had heard me singing in the rugby club the previous Saturday night, asked me to do the lead in a musical. I said no, absolutely no way.

"That afternoon she dropped me in a script and a tape and said: ‘Be up at rehearsals tonight at eight o’clock.’ I knew I was no good on stage but I thoroughly enjoyed the process and it was like a completely new family. It was like going home really.”

Following his instinct for a new career challenge, he eventually worked his way to becoming artistic director of Cork’s Everyman Theatre from 1996 to 2001. 

“My diploma in accounting came in very useful in helping the business stay the right side of bankruptcy,” he recalled. Drawn to directing, Geoff eventually secured a coveted place at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

There is a sense for many of us in the theatre industry — actors, writers, directors and designers — that the pandemic has taught us never to take our work for granted.

"The joy of writing and developing a new script or production in a room full of creative minds and then being able to present that work to an audience will never again be underestimated.”

The joy of presenting Friel's masterpiece to a new generation, in tandem with the opportunity to once again practice his craft, is what makes the return to the rehearsal room so exciting. Contrary to public opinion Irish theatre has never been in a better place, he says.

“Theatre critics and commentators, mostly city-based to be fair, constantly bemoan the lack of ‘big political’ plays suitable for The Abbey, and the dearth of emerging playwrights. There is no argument that the halcyon days of the late 1990s, which produced powerful and important work from Enda Walsh, Marina Carr, Conor MacPherson, Martin McDonagh and Mark O’Rowe, may never be repeated, but it is possible that the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium heralded a different structure for Irish theatre.”

Reece Hawtrey, David Quinn, and Jack Desmond at attending auditions at the Cork Opera House. Picture: Larry Cummins

He highlights the actor/authors who write and perform their own work emerging in the early millennium as a response to the lack of work available to actors.

“We can thank the gods that there was a paucity of work otherwise we would never have the extraordinary output presented by people like Pat Kinevane, Mikel Murfi, Sonya Kelly, Noni Stapleton, Margaret McAuliffe, Seamus O’Rourke and Peter Gowen. 

These actors are just a tiny percentage of the 700 new one-actor plays presented since the beginning of the new century.

Over recent years the Arts Council appears to have re-highlighted the injustice in funding that playwrights were subjected to over the previous two decades, he believes. 

“A quick glance through the project funding will confirm the tiny few writers granted funding over that time in comparison to the myriad of funding provided for theatre makers projects.”

Geoff believes it will take a further decade to recover to the level of the late 1990s where a new generation of playwrights will emerge. 

“Michael West, Carmel Winters, Philip MacMahon, Aílís Ní Riain, Micheál Lovett, Katie Holly and Shane Mac An Bhaird, not to mention a host of other playwrights, are still writing large cast productions for the stage,” he says. 

“But the difficulty lies in getting the funding or one of the established theatre companies to produce their work, and that won’t change in the short run.”