A Question of Taste: Eadaoin O’Donoghue

Eadaoin O’Donoghue

Eadaoin O’Donoghue is from North Cork and is artist in residence with Corcadorca.

The Cork city-based theatre company is currently working on her play, Hail to the Great Wave, which will be performed when virus restrictions are lifted.

Eadaoin says: “It’s a dark, sweet, comedy about a couple having a baby during the apocalypse. I wrote it six months ago and have apparently summoned it into being… Sorry everyone!”

Best recent book you’ve read:

I got a copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a day or two before we went into total lockdown. He was a Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher and all round impressive guy.

Best recent film:

Knives Out, for sure.

Best recent show/gig you’ve seen:

Ute Lemper performing The Seven Deadly Sins.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old):

I’ve just discovered Grimes, and her new album Miss Anthropocene. She is a fascinating artist.

First ever piece of music or art that really moved you:

The Guns N’ Roses album, Use Your Illusion.

The best play you’ve ever seen:

The Seagull, by a Hungarian theatre company called Kretakor, had me in a daze for weeks afterwards. There was no real set or production design or costume design.

Just incredible acting and simple staging. It felt real, and dreamlike at the same time. I will never forget it.

Tell us about your TV viewing:

I go through phases of wanting to watch everything and then I get sick of it. There is so much of it, it’s easy to reach saturation point.

At the moment, I am in a re-watching phase and am watching Rick and Morty which is never not funny. Maybe it’s the lockdown, and I just want something familiar and comforting?

Radio listening and podcasts:

I love listening to John Kelly’s Mystery Train on Lyric FM because you never know what he’ll play.

The best podcast I have heard lately is called Where do we Begin? It’s a couples therapy session with a

renowned therapist called Esther Perel.

The couples are anonymous, and some names and details are changed but it is a real conversation. It’s jaw dropping stuff.

What are your three all-time favourite acting performances?

Nicolas Hope in an Australian movie called Bad Boy Bubby.

Bjork in Lars Von Trier’s movie, Dancer in the Dark.

Mark Rylance in Farinelli and the King on the West End.

Your best celebrity encounter:

Anytime I meet someone a bit famous, I am awkward so I usually avoid them. Scott Walker sat beside me in a cafe once, and I couldn’t even look at him.

You can portal back to any cultural event or music era — where, when, and why?

Sinead O Connor ripping up the picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live after singing ‘War’ by Bob Marley.

The studio audience was completely silent, and I would love to applaud her.

Unsung hero — individual or group you think don’t get the profile/praise they deserve:

Right now, anyone who is keeping the show on the road. Supermarket workers, nurses, truck- drivers. I am so grateful to them.

The clapping is a nice gesture but they need to be financially rewarded for their work.

You are queen of the theatre world for a day — what’s your first decree?

Ban standing ovations. They are meaningless now.

An honest seated clap is so much better.

I especially hate when it’s clear that no one really wants to stand up and bit by bit, they start to give into it.

It’s a downer. Neither actors nor the audience feel good about it.

Then, a show would come along and be so good that people would rebel and give a standing ovation and it would be thrilling!