Arts Life

Conor Dwane

What I do: Actor/producer/writer/director

Favourite café: The Boqueria on bridge street in Cork, though it’s much more than just a café. The minute you walk through the door, you’re transported to the mountains of Andalucía.

Current listening: For a Knock on the Door from the Taxman, by Enda and the Scapegoats.

The last gig I attended: Billy Bragg at Cyprus Avenue. I love his guitar-playing and the simplicity of his lyrics, but could have done with less pontificating about the miners’ strike. Thought I was back in London in the ’80s for a minute.

The last book I read: I tend to have three or four books on the go at a time. I’m currently reading Wonderful Town, from the New Yorker; On Directing, by Harold Clurman; The Storyteller, by Eamon Kelly; and Book of General Ignorance, by John Lloyd and John Michelson.

My last trip to the theatre: The Sunshine Boys, by Neil Simon, at the Everyman Palace in Cork. Great production, great performances. Laughed all the way to the bank(link).

The last exhibition I attended: Group Show, Lavitt Gallery, Cork. Susie O’Mulane’s work, in particular, I like. It has a strange otherworldliness. Mesmerising.

My favourite film: A few films I always seem to come back to again and again are Raging Bull, The Searchers, It’s A Wonderful Life and Modern Times. I like films that move me emotionally. The last film that made me cry was Sex And The City 2. My wife wanted to see it, and to my surprise within five minutes of the lights being dimmed, the tears were rolling down my cheeks as I thought to myself: ‘I just paid €8 to sit through this crap’.

My favourite writer/artist/musician: Bob Dylan, I’m a definite Bobcat. I heard recently that Sony were in talks with Dylan to be the voice of their Sat Nav systems. I’d buy that. Probably end up on Desolation Row.

My favourite work of art: Impossible question, but perhaps JW Turner’s Strange Sun After Rain. I’m not really into ‘modern art’ but, having said that, I’d like to see Simon Cowell set in concrete.

My favourite venue: Has to be The Everyman Palace in Cork. I feel really at home on that stage.

The writer/artist/musician I would most like to meet: Met John Martyn once. Never meet your heroes, they always disappoint. I speak from bitter experience.

Bio: Most recently seen on the Everyman Palace stage in the title role of Elephant in Intimacies And Elephants, and as Lord Darlington in the hugely successful Lady Windermere’s Fan. Conor is artistic director of Cork-based theatre company Skylight Productions. Conor co-founded Red Scarab Films with his brother, Kevin Dwane, in 2010.

Upcoming: Currently touring with The Story of the Rubbish Monster, a comic children’s play based on anti-litter and recycling in the Munster region. Red Scarab Films, in conjunction with Stone Mad productions, are finishing post-production work on Musing With Will, a comedy pilot for RTÉ filmed in Cork, and are currently in post production for two comedy shorts which will soon be holding open castings for filming in the spring. Contact: [e-mail].

— Interview: Marc O’Sullivan