School Daze with Seán Misteál from Ros na Rún: 'I was a born messer, a clown'
Seán Misteál plays David on Ros na Rún, Ireland’s only Irish Language and rural-based TV drama.
I went to a very small primary school called Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Gobnait, Dún Chaoin, which is back near the Slea Head drive.
It's as far west from Dingle as you can go. It was a tiny school and there was only one classroom. It was a very good experience for me. Our teacher, Mícheál Ó Dubhshláine - who has since sadly passed away - was a very unconventional man.
He used to bring us on nature walks, and immerse us in local history. It may not have been part of the official Department of Education curriculum, but it was extremely important to him, and therefore, to us. It gave us a deep love for where we came from.
We would be in school looking out at the Blasket Islands, and he taught us all about the landmarks and all the birds that lived where we did. It was a great eye-opener for me.
We never spoke a word of English at school or at home. Today we still speak only Irish at home. My wife is Dutch, so we have to speak English for her, but among my family and friends in West Kerry, it's all Irish, all the time.
We used to do these plays during primary school that we'd rehearse for months and months at a time. I got a taste for theatrics and for acting there.
My late mother used to say that it was not an accident of birth that I happened to grow up in one of the most beautiful places in the country. We knew it was a blessing.
Growing up, I was definitely aware that I was being raised in a place with so much history and so much nature and amazing history. I knew it, but it was only when I went away travelling that I really began to appreciate it.
My school life went sadly downhill when I went to secondary school. I went to the Dingle CBS, a Christian Brothers school and I did not have a good experience.
It was a very rough school when I attended and I kind of rebelled against school as an institution because of this. I had zero interest in school, and I think it was a reaction to going to this school.
I can remember my first day at CBS very very well and I was utterly terrified. There was bullying going on, where you'd get a few punches and that was just the way it was.
It was such a contrast for me. It was a very big place, and I had come from a small and intimate environment in Dun Chuin. I was the eldest in my family and nobody had gone before me to follow.
Academically I didn't do too well. I repeated my Leaving Certificate, and I think I had less points the second time around.
I regret my lack of interest. I wish I had been a better student to make my parents more proud of me, but you can't turn the clock back.
Even though I rejected everything during secondary school, I find myself today working as a professional actor and that comes back to when I was in primary school.
That love of being on stage stayed with me despite it all. I always say I was born a clown, I was born a messer and I think I've managed to carve out a career where I'm actually learning a bit of money from it.
I am living in Galway and I hope to God I can go home for Christmas. I think you need to leave a place for a while, to realise how much you love it, and how much it is in you.
This pandemic has shown us one thing and that's simply that you don't know what's down the line. I have learned that the most important thing is to focus on living your life the best way you know how.
If the restrictions are lifted in December, and my wife and I are able to go home to Kerry and spend time with our family, we are going to concentrate on enjoying Christmas more than any other year.
We won't get home to see her family in the Netherlands, but we might get home to Kerry, and that's what we are aiming for.
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