Treading the boards from Killimer to Portumna

HE credits his interest in drama to his Killimer grandmother, yet even she would be really chuffed with the lengths he has gone to, to  develop a life-long passion.
Jim Hynes has been treading the boards all the way from West Clare to Portumna in East Galway thanks to his love for amateur dramatics, which was fostered from two sides of the family at a very young age.
His grandmother, Christine McInerney, married Michael Starr from Nenagh. They had 10 children and most of them were involved with the Portumna Players one way or another, mostly through acting.
As a family, Jim feels they were very talented in an “arty sense”.
Christine brought him to plays in Portumna and encouraged him to read scripts of plays, which he did and he would often try to imagine himself in every part. The old scripts from plays that his aunts and uncles acted in were stored in the house.
In fact, their house in Portumna was regarded locally as a “Mecca for anyone interested in plays”.
Jim attended the renowned drama festivals in Scariff and Doonbeg, Portumna and always did well in the Scariff festival but sadly they do not travel anymore.
Jim believes his grandmother would have attended local productions throughout the county, particularly annual festivals like Doonbeg and Scariff.
“My grandmother was the backbone of the family. She would have inspired confidence in her siblings, as they were talented singers as well.
“Like all grandmothers, she would tell you you were wonderful, even in school concerts.
“My aunt, Peg Starr, has lived in Kilkee most of her life. She is retired now but still loves going to Doonbeg for the drama festival every year.
“The McInerney and Starr influences played a major part in developing my interest in drama, which I am very thankful for,” he said.
As a child, Jim was taken to see the local drama group on stage in Portumna. In 1975, together with a few others, he was instrumental in reforming the Portumna Players’ Amateur Drama Group after an absence of a number of years, presenting Donagh McDonagh’s verse comedy God’s Gentry.
The play enabled the thespians to bring new members of various ages into the group, revitalising the Players.
It is perhaps no surprise that Jim became a director and actor, directing 16 plays and acting in four.
The plays he directed include The Field; Moll; Power O Darkness; Patrick Pearse Motel; Big Maggie; Highest House on the Mountain; Sharon’s Grave (twice), bringing it to America in 2000; Sive (twice); Semi Private; Widow’s Paradise; Factory Girls; The Year of the Hiker; A Wake in the West and Say Cheese.
He has acted in God’s Gentry; Many young Men of Twenty; Nano and Bonaventure.
Since 1990, the Players have staged two productions annually. He is currently involved in directing Steel Magnolias, a play by Robert Harling. In the autumn, He hopes to cast Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh after recently directing two plays with the Lorrha Drama Group.
Greg O’Connor and his one-man show is part of a trilogy that Jim has directed for the Portumna Shorelines Festival, which runs from Thursday, September 20 to Sunday, September 23.
The three pieces he directed are on the final afternoon and as a result, he is calling it The Closer.
They are The Rants of Ringo, The Letter and Newshound, which he adapted from the plays Same old Moon by Geraldine Aron and The Cripple of Inismann by Martin McDonagh.
He is returning to NUIG to continue a four-year degree in drama, theatre performance with English and history, having previously attended the Gormanstown Annual Drama Summer School three times.
Greg O’Connor worked for the past 40 years as an economics teacher, author and lecturer.
He grew up in Galway listening to classic BBC radio sitcoms such as Steptoe and Son, The Navy Lark and Beyond our Ken, which aroused in him a lifelong passion for comedy in all its forms, from slapstick to subtlety.
His comedy heroes are many and varied, ranging from Chaplin to Field, Morcambe and Wise to Sykes, Reginald D Hunter to Bill Bailey and local heroes Dylan Moran and Tommy Tiernan.
His hunger for quality sitcom has also been fed and nurtured by shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Little Britain, The Inbetweeners and Seinfield.
He was once a member of the Taibhdhearc Theatre in Galway, performing in An Trial by Mairéad Ní Gráda, The Honey Spike by Bryan McMahon and Mungo’s Mansion by Walter Macken.
In Dublin, the staff and pupils of Blackrock College, where he worked, collaborated on such shows as Waterloo High based on the music of the Kinks and Help paying homage to the Beatles. These shows premiered at the Pavillion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire.
Greg always wanted to emulate his comedic heroes and perform stand up and took a show entitled The Rants of Ringo to the Edinburgh Fringe for four years, performing at the Three Tuns, Roxy Art House and The Merchants’ Hall.
This year, he brings a 20 minute stand-up performance to the Shorelines Festival, ranting on about the awfulness of old age and retirement and also takes part in a short sketch directed by Jim Hynes.
The name Ringo was Greg’s nickname as a teacher in Blackrock due to a propensity to finger drum on the teacher’s rostrum, while wearing a Beatles-style haircut. The youthful hair and drumming have long gone but Ringo remains.