Julie Kelleher
I am also one of two lead vocalists with Ocean’s Six (wedding and party band available for hire!). I work more frequently as a freelance theatre producer and event manager, and spent the first half of this year running Kinsale Arts Week 2011 as festival manager, and producing Hammergrin’s Latch for Cork Midsummer Festival 2011. And in 2012, I’m looking forward to taking on my very first directing project with Cork-based theatre collective Broken Crow (of which I am a member). The piece is a new work by Ronan Fitzgibbon, called Mantle.
Favourite café: Gulpd Café at Triskel Arts Centre. I’m not a coffee drinker: the grub at Gulpd is delicious and hearty, and the staff are great.
Current listening: The new Ryan Adams album, Ashes & Fire, which is making my soul melt at the moment, and lots of Hank Williams. !
The last gig I attended: Sam Amidon at Triskel Christchurch. He’s a real treat to watch and listen to, and the atmosphere at Christchurch was magic.
The last book I read: Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood. It’s an excellent, if sometimes harrowing, read. And I’m about to tuck into Just Kids by Patti Smith.
My last trip to the theatre: I went to see a Royal Court Theatre local production in London. It was called The Westbridge and was staged in an offsite location in a warehouse building in Peckham. The Westbridge is the first play by a young female writer, Rachel De-lahay. The play was contemporary in terms of the issues it dealt with, but really quite conventional. Having said that, I enjoyed it.
The last exhibition I attended: Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970 — 1990 at the V & A Museum in London. It was fascinating and devastating all at once.
My favourite film: Impossible to choose! I adore Some Like It Hot and Singin’ In The Rain for a bit of old school Hollywood glamour and fun, but equally love contemporary films like City of God, Pulp Fiction and No Country For Old Men.
My favourite writer/artist/musician: I really couldn’t choose.
My favourite work of art: The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I was absolutely floored by the emotional impact of the story but also the artistry with which it was told.
My favourite venue: I have a special place in my heart for the Everyman Palace Theatre. I did my first ever audition at 11 on that stage and look forward to the memories that will be made this Christmas, onstage and off, during the Panto.
The writer/artist/musician I would most like to meet: Patti Smith, who is an inspiration as an artist across several forms and also an inspiration as a woman. Seeing her perform live in Skibbereen in June was one of the highlights of 2011 for me.
bio
Julie Kelleher is a performer, vocalist and a freelance theatre producer. A graduate of University College Cork, she holds a BA in Drama & Theatre Studies & English, and an MA in Drama & Theatre Studies. She stars as Beauty in the CADA & Everyman Palace Theatre production of Beauty and the Beast, which runs until Sunday, January 8.
Interview: Marc O’Sullivan
