A touch of livin’ dred in Doonbeg

“I THINK if you work in a factory you’re as entitled to see theatre, or any other art, as anybody else. And people in Dublin have no more right to art than the rest of us.”
Padraic McIntyre, actor, director, playwright and adjudicator of the 50th Doonbeg Drama Festival, is a plain speaker who doesn’t accept that status or geography should determine your access to art. This belief is central to Livin’ Dred, the theatre company he co-founded in 2004 with Mary Hanley and Druid stalwart, Aaron Monaghan.
Based at the Ramor Theatre in Virginia, County Cavan, the company was established to provide a professional theatre company for Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, Cavan and Monaghan. It has won national plaudits for many of the 13 plays it has presented.
The company’s title is a “very Cavan expression,” says Padraic. “It can mean good, bad or indifferent. It’s a bit like ‘pure mule’. You could have a conversation; ‘I was at a party last night.’ ‘How was it?’ ‘Oh, it was the livin’ dred.’”
Livin’ Dred has a resolute commitment to presenting work that is “relevant to the region and relevant to the audience,” he explains. Before deciding on a production, the company takes the innovative approach of contacting local venues and inviting them to suggest plays that fulfil Livin’ Dred’s objective.
“Most theatre is audience-led. We want it to be audience-driven. I believe that theatre is only theatre when you’re performing for audiences. I’ve never been involved in a production where the question isn’t asked: ‘How many are in tonight?’ I don’t believe in theatre for the sake of theatre.”
Before Livin’ Dred, Padraic trained as an actor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He has written a number of plays, including The Night Joe Dolan’s Car Broke Down, which ran at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway, recently and has established himself as an acclaimed director with the theatre company he co-founded.
It was while acting in various productions in Britain after graduating that Padraic started to identify with the job of the director.
“For some actors, it’s about keeping the performance fresh but I always felt that the rehearsal was the most interesting place. As a director, you get more from it than from the performance. When I was in plays, I’d often go into rehearsals for scenes I wasn’t involved in just to see what they were doing.”
Padraic draws a clear distinction between directing his own plays and his experience of helming Livin’ Dred productions such as Tom Murphy’s Conversations on a Homecoming.
“In Conversations on a Homecoming, every comma is in the right place,” he suggests. “It’s a sacred script. If there’s a conscious pause, it’s there for a reason. But when it’s your own play, it’s far easier to change things if they’re not working.”
In 2008, Padraic directed a celebrated production of Pat McCabe’s The Dead School for Livin’ Dred. McCabe adapted his own novel for the stage and refined the script during rehearsals. For some directors an author’s presence in the rehearsal room could cause tension but Padraic cites this collaboration as a major influence.
“Pat was very open to changing things. He said, ‘Sometimes you have to kill your babies for the good of the play’. You have to look at the big picture. I learned a lot from working with Pat.”
Emphasising that he doesn’t see himself as a writer in the way he thinks about Tom Murphy or Conor McPherson, co-operating with Pat McCabe on The Dead School inspired Padraic to pen his own plays.
“I had stories in my head but I didn’t know how to go about telling them. Even in The Night Joe Dolan’s Car Broke Down, I thought I knew what I wanted to write about and then it took a new journey. McCabe said that with The Butcher Boy he had no idea he was going to kill Mrs Nugent. You have to be brave. You have to start with a blank page and, like the Nike ad, ‘Just do it’. I went for it,” he said.
Set in a shabby pub in Glenaduff, County Cavan, on St Stephen’s night and the next morning, The Night Joe Dolan’s Car Broke Down centres on a group of locals who gather for a surprise birthday party for the Horse Munley and boasts live music by John O’Grady as Joe Dolan.
Blending music, comedy and drama, McIntyre’s play is told in colourful language and is sprinkled with the supernatural. It looks at the way people conform to expectations, how they handle fear and their attempts at escape.
Premiered last year and produced by Ramor Theatre, the run in Galway was the play’s third after successful outings in Cavan, Monaghan, Roscommon and Westmeath. Padraic suggests that the play’s setting and timing strike a chord with audiences.
“There are characters [in the play] that people in every small community can relate to,” he says. “It’s been a hit audience-wise. It has music and entertainment at a time when people need that. And it’s been a great experience for me to see audiences enjoying it.”
Padraic didn’t set out to write a play featuring Joe Dolan but when the character emerged, the playwright shelved his original plot and ran with the idea.
“I started out writing a different play, also set in a pub. As I told that story, I came to a point where there was a knock on the door. When I answered it in my head, Joe Dolan walked in. I’m in my 30s and Joe Dolan was the soundtrack in my house growing up. I surprised myself how much of his music I knew. When I looked at Joe Dolan’s music closely, I realised that he had all these great songs and I wanted to explore that.”
Padraic is excited about his visit to Clare. “I’ve heard so much about this festival,” he says about Doonbeg. “It’s a real privilege to be adjudicating here.”
The Doonbeg Drama Festival continues until next Tuesday night.