Everyman reaching out to all

Cork City theatre is nurturing talent by funding new plays, and by inviting the public to collaborate, says Colette Sheridan

ARTISTIC director of Cork City’s Everyman Theatre, Michael Barker-Caven, is nurturing local talent and will extend this to County Cork, working with Ian McDonagh, the county arts officer. Barker-Caven is coping with Arts Council cuts by applying for the project funding that enabled the ambitious production of Pagliacci to be staged last summer at the Cork Midsummer Festival. Co-directed by Barker-Caven, it won the ‘best opera production’ at the Irish Times Theatre Awards.

“The award is a great motivator to continue this kind of work with the Cork Operatic Society. It shows that you can produce work of the highest calibre, in the city, that will be recognised nationally. The word is spreading that, once again, Cork is a place from which to produce great opera. There are many talented people living and working in Cork who want to make opera,” he says.