'Everybody who came into contact with Paul Mescal knew how special he was'
Julie Kelleher has been involved in Cork theatre for many years, and has been artistic director at the city's Everyman since 2014. Before she leaves to take up a new role at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, Co Wicklow, she picked out some of her favourite memories from her stint at the Everyman.
“It really hit a zeitgeist. I was a bit shell-shocked seeing it in front of an audience for the first time. I'd already seen it a few times in rehearsal and thought it was very good and very moving... but it was special to see it with an audience and to hear people's reactions – from uncomfortable laughter to gasps, and all the sniffling and the crying, and even the power of that final scene where the audience is rendered silent. It was a great personal experience for me, but also for what it did for the Everyman, and to contribute to the conversation about what was going on.
"As for Paul Mescal, I had seen him for the first time in one of his college showcases, a show called Jerusalem, probably in 2016, and he was part of a very talented cast in that. When we auditioned him for Asking For It, it was really clear there was a spot for him in the show. Everybody who came into contact with Paul knew how special he was – I was not alone in that. And he's also the loveliest man as well.
Paul has a great capacity for the more physical end of things that you need for theatre, as well as the up-close emotional stuff for a screen. So the world really is his oyster.
“Until I was about 12, I thought the only thing that happened in a theatre was panto. I'm very protective of it as being people's first point of entry into live performance. And then in I got to play Beauty in Beauty and the Beast – at last it was my childhood dream come true.
That money can then be ploughed into projects like Asking For It and Evening Train. It allows us do artist-development work, or take a risk on a new show. Next year is a really unpleasant prospect without that extra cushion.”
In 2015, Grace Dyas and Dublin-based THEATREClub brought their Heroin play to Cork.
“Grace made several visits to Cork before the show, visiting youth projects, engaging with community groups, youth workers... basically anyone whose lives touch up against issues the show talks about – basically addiction, and not just addiction to heroin. It talks about addiction as an epidemic in the country, arising out of historical trauma that goes through generations.
"I was coming in and there was a throng of young people outside -we had made tickets available for €5 – and there was even one young fellah trying to tout his ticket. It was clear that the work they had done to generate a new audience had worked. And that's a real thrill, that you don't need 'data' to tell you, you can see it with your own eyes. It's the kind of thing the entire arts sector needs to be doing, as we're still sort of vaguely middle class in lots of ways.”
“Led Zeppelin are my husband Mick's favourite band of all time, so when Robert Plant brought his Saving Grace show to the Everyman last year, I assured Mick we'd meet him. But I'm really not into the star stuff, and just before the show I said to Mick that I can't do it. He was so disappointed. The gig was amazing but all I could think about all the way through it was I'd never live this down if I don't make it happen. So I eventually got over myself, and we lurked around back stage until we got to meet him. And it was great – the two lads were happy out, chatting about stuff like football and shoes!”
“They had proposed this project that talked about engaging with the building as a space, almost as its own character. At the end of Part 1, where we had had a lot of darkness and haze, all of a sudden these lights came on, and the whole auditorium was lit up, and Stephen and Conor were sitting in the auditorium. It genuinely took my breath away. For me it really demonstrated how good at reimagining stuff they are.”
“David Greig's play The Events uses a local choir every night. One of the choirs we used was Choral Confusion, an LGBTQ choir in Cork, and on the night that they performed, we had a post-show talk. A lady at the talk aired views that were very right-leaning – which many people in the room would have found offensive. But what was brilliant was that, she was heard, nobody shouted her down, though there was a rebuttal of what she said.
The Cork singer-songwriter launched his debut album,Dreamcatcher, to a packed Everyman in 2016.
Jack O'Rourke's album launch last night is the reason epic exists as a word. Check out the album #Dreamcatcher @JackORourkes pic.twitter.com/RpqQmEM6l0
— Albena Krasteva (@AlbenaKrasteva) October 16, 2016
"I got to sing backing vocals with Jack, who's also a friend of mine. He did a cover of Rory Gallagher's 'Million Miles Away', so there was layer upon layer of Cork music history happening in this building that's so special (and where Rory did his final Cork gig). It was a full house and Jack had built up that audience through years of gigging, so it was great to see the launch go so well. It was also great to support a Cork artist. You can be a room for hire anywhere, but it's really important to support local artists and people who really understand the place. “
