The sweet sound of success

A South Galway youth is among five lucky and talented people to be cast in the Druid production of the Sean O’Casey classic The Silver Tassie.
Well-known Gort Community School student John Gaughan was selected from the Galway auditions and will perform in the play later this month in the city’s Town Hall Theatre.
While this is a huge honour for the young man, he has some experience in this field. In 2005, aged just 11, he and his brother Joseph featured in DruidSynge, the theatre company’s collective presentation of the plays of John Millington Synge. This toured both here and in the United States, an experience John loved.
“It was incredible, like I was dreaming. I had never been to America before and to go and do something you love there was brilliant. It wasn’t all performances because we had spare time so we got to go out and see the sights when we were in Milwaukee or New York or wherever,” John told The Clare Champion.
John’s primary interest is in music, but he is not adverse to the occasional dramatic performance.
“My interest in drama came through my signing. I was doing different bits with acting and stage schools and it was actually through singing Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah that I got asked to come to a Druid audition. That was when I was about 10 or 11,” he recalled.
“To be honest I hadn’t known anything about the acting world before I was thrown into the deep end with Druid but I got into the swing of things and became more interested in the acting. DruidSynge was a great experience but I was a bit naive to how big everything was. It was a great experience and I wouldn’t do anything different though,” he added.
Of course, John’s latest stint on stage is different.
“I am older now and I guess it is easier to understand what I am doing this time around so it is better. I can enjoy it more because I am that bit older. I am really enjoying the rehearsals. Last time it was just my brother and myself but this time there are five of us and we just clicked on the first day and that has made the experience different as well,” he explained.
Since performing with Druid in 2005 John has concentrated mainly on his schoolwork but has performed occasionally in plays. He also rose to national attention in 2008 when he won the RTÉ Star Search, 
“Since then really I was concentrating on school and on bettering my voice by doing lessons. To be honest musical theatre isn’t the avenue I’m most interested in. I am more a singer and at the minute I am writing songs and doing my own thing and that is where I am hoping to go with all this and the exposure is brilliant but even more than that being with Druid is brilliant because they are top of the list,” he outlined.
John is one of five young people from the county selected to take part in the Galway performances. He will sing alongside Lara Connaughton, Martin Kenny, Peadar O’Goill and Miriam Ward as well as a professional cast of 14.
“In general I don’t get nervous doing shows because it is what I do and I love doing it. Really it is more excitement to get out and do it,” John stated.
The Silver Tassie by Seán O’Casey will begin performances in Galway before touring throughout Ireland to Ennis, Dublin, Cork, Portlaoise and Tralee and to Oxford and Manchester in the UK. The production will also be a highlight of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival at the Gaiety Theatre in October.
“Yes, it’s our biggest company ever, it’s a gamble, and we have almost had to sell the family china to finance it but we felt that we wanted to demonstrate our belief in the power of live theatre and we wanted to give audiences something different. Seán O’Casey is a great angry, provocative writer and these difficult times demand that a voice like his is heard,” said director Garry Hynes, commenting on the production.
As well as bringing local young people on board in Galway, Ennis, Cork, Tralee and Dublin, Druid is running an education programme in secondary schools in Galway city and county with funds raised from its 35th celebration event held earlier this year. The company will visit 14 schools and colleges in Galway city and county to conduct workshops with actors from the production.
“It is a brilliant play. After reading through the script, it is an amazing play and people will really enjoy it and I hope people will come along and support it. I’m sure they will because it is Druid and they are very well known and professional and I am hoping a lot of my friends will come too, that would be great,” John concluded.
Druid’s production of The Silver Tassie directed by Garry Hynes, runs from August 23 to September 7 in the Town Hall Theatre, Galway and will also run at Glór in Ennis from September 9 to 11 as part of a tour of Ireland and the UK.