Arts Life

What I do

I am an actor and perform the show I wrote, called Tom Crean — Antarctic Explorer, all over the country.

Favourite café

Gloria Jeans in Cork is the best for the ye olde coffee.

Current listening

Beautiful Angel by Texas.

The last gig I attended

My God, its been 30 years since I pogo’d to Horslips in Seapoint Galway, but since? I recall attending my 18-year-old son’s band’s gig in an old seaman’s basement hall in January, amidst the screaming teenagers.

The last book I read

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle.

My last trip to the theatre

I went to see the stage version of Warhorse, with my wife and little girl Nancy. I was blown away by the brilliance of the puppetry and magic.

The last exhibition I attended

I was lucky enough to be basking in the sun in the French riviera, visiting a friend, and I went into the Picasso Museum in Antibes. I saw some of his earlier stuff.

My favourite film

I love Paris, Texas … the Ry Cooder painful guitar underscore is fab.

Unmissable TV show

Life On Mars is a brilliant series. It is nostalgia with a twist … leaves you guessing for ages.

My favourite writer

Brian Friel — he is the most incredible writer. Wonderful creator of characters and stories. A real artist.

My favourite work of art

Jack B Yeats and his beautiful work The Two Travellers — sums us, and it all, up really.

My favourite venue

I love the Everyman Theatre in Cork.

The writer/artist/musician I would most like to meet

William Shakespeare, but as that is unlikely I reckon a good second would be David Bowie.

Bio

Aidan Dooley is from Galway. He trained at Guilford School of Acting and works as a freelance actor, writer and director in London. He lives in Rochester, Kent, with his wife Miriam and their two children, Liam, aged 18, and Nancy, aged 11.

He first performed Tom Crean — Antarctic Explorer 10 years ago at Siamsa Tíre, Tralee, for Tom Crean’s family and then at the Medway Fuse Festival, followed by the New York International Fringe Festival (best solo show award winner). Dooley has toured his new solo show O’Sullivan Beara — The Last Gaelic Chieftain in the last year. He has also worked for many years developing various performance pieces and historical characters for all the national museums in England, including the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, where the idea of a performance on Tom Crean originated. The Tom Crean show is currently on tour and will be at the Everyman Palace from Mar 12-17. See www.tomcreanshow.com.