Michael Patric: From Oscar fun to the bittersweet tale of Mallow Sugar Factory 

Cork actor Michael Patric played the errant father in An Cailín Ciúin, but he's delighted to be touring his native county with a story that has special local significance 

Newmarket actor Michael Patric performs in Sugar, as part of West Cork Fit-up Festival. 

 Taking the ferry to islands off West Cork and pitching up in community halls as part of the West Cork Fit-Up Theatre Festival is a far cry from being feted at the Oscars in Los Angeles. But for Newmarket-born actor, Michael Patric, it’s all part of the unpredictable – and sometimes exciting - life of an actor. 

Patric, who stars in his self-penned one-man show, Sugar, in West Cork, is full of enthusiasm for the travelling theatre festival, founded by Geoff Gould in 2009. It brings plays to rural communities (there is also the Blackwater Fit-Up Festival earlier in the year), with a nod to the fit-up shows in 1950s Ireland.