Jumping for joy for Cork theatre Everyman’s autumn offering

By Joe Leogue

The world premier of an operatic Oscar Wilde adaptation, theatre, live music, and comedy form the foundation of the Everyman Theatre’s offerings over the next few months, which will also see the traditional panto return for Christmas.

The theatre has unveiled its autumn programme, promising a spellbinding night at the ball with this year’s panto, Cinderella, and comedic offerings from Deirdre O’Kane, Chris Kent, Colin Murphy, Waterford Whispers News, David O’Doherty, Des Bishop, and Jason Byrne.

The Johnny Cash Roadshow and Eddi Reader headline the theatre’s music offerings, which will also continue its ever-present role as a host venue for the Cork Jazz Festival and Cork Film Festival.

The standout production of the autumn is John O’Brien’s The Nightingale and the Rose, a new opera based on Oscar Wilde’s timeless short story. Opera aficionados will also have visits from the Irish National Opera to look forward to, with The Tales of Hoffmann this month and Orfeo ed Euridice in February.

Touring theatre productions set to visit Cork include Marina Carr’s The Mai, The Collector, James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Fly Me To The Moon’ Clare Monnelly’s Charlie’s A Clepto, Maeve Binchy’s Light a Penny Candle, and the return of Menopause: The Musical next spring.

Meanwhile Junk Ensemble, Philip Connaughton, Talking Shop Ensemble, Louise White, and For The Birds will make up the Irish dance and theatre artists appearing in the Everyman over the season.

Artistic director Julie Kelleher said the previous season was a successful one for the Everyman.

I want to take a brief moment to thank everyone for the tremendous support shown to the venue over the summer, and in particular the support shown to home-grown productions like Asking for It and The Lonesome West,” she said.

“To see people coming to the theatre in such numbers and having such powerful responses to what is on stage is really what makes the hard work worth it.”

Executive director Seán Kelly said 2018 “has proven to be one of the busiest and most exciting in the Everyman’s long history”.

We have produced and co-produced more work than ever before, our productions are larger in scale and embark on longer runs, smashing all previous box office records,” he said.

“There are even more exciting shows to come and we really believe that our audiences will love them. We are deeply grateful to those much-valued audiences and partners who have shown us such incredible support to make all of this possible and we look forward their company this autumn.”