Cork director: Seeing actors perform live is ‘very special’
Mary Curtin, who is directing Present Laughter at the Everyman.
Arriving to Cork (via Dublin) from Tralee, where she was founder of The Group Theatre, she immediately sought the company of the stage.
The Cork Theatre Company group, run by Gerry Barnes, came to the rescue. Later, she worked as a director with Theatre Company run by Pat Talbot.
“I telling Gerry that I couldn’t commit to acting as I had small children at the time; I just wanted to be there. I made coffee, sewed cushions – I even gave the actors haircuts, good haircuts too, I might add,” she says with a part-wink, part-smile.
The sparkly-eyed director, one of Cork’s most prolific, says she feels the same way about theatre now.
“I don’t care if I’m sitting in the stalls, or in the box office, it is a magical, beautiful place. Seeing live actors performing, working, it’s very special. It must be kept alive.
“The big draw nowadays is for comedians and tribute bands, and it can be hard to get people into the theatre. But if they come, well, it is always worth it. The energy comes from the stage.”
As well as being drawn to the theatre, Noel Coward is a writer to whom the renowned director often returns, and she is thrilled to be directing in the Everyman this week. The show opened last night and continues until Saturday.
This is one of Coward’s four great comedies of manners, along with , and . It arrives at the Everyman after a sell-out run in Cork Arts Theatre.
"To hear the collective laughter of an audience – it is so good. They leave the theatre in good form. That’s why I love Noel Coward. I call it Champagne comedy.”
Mary knows her trade. The play was written in 1939, she explains, and was in rehearsal when war broke out and had to be rescheduled as British theatres shut down. By coincidence, she began working on this production in 2020 before it was paused by the pandemic.
“After the First World War, as with any dark period, people wanted lightness. It is all so debonair and glamourous. It’s lovely, urbane, and it is fun. It’s escapism at its best. The characters are shallow, but you still like them. Infidelity is rife. Loyalty is tenuous. But it’s funny and there’s no real vulgarity in it.”
The whole plot is centred around Garry Essendine, a theatre matinee idol, who is both extremely popular and self-obsessed.
“The theatre critic and writer Kenneth Tynan said Coward was his own best invention. He wrote the best parts for himself. Garry Essendine is Coward. It’s all very autobiographical, even down to the set design. Coward lived on the top of the house in Eaton Square in London and our set is based on that.”
The cast reflects Coward’s own relationships too.
“Coward’s ‘family’ had at its nucleus three women: Gladys Calthorpe who designed costumes and sets; Joyce Carey, and Lorn McNocton, his secretary and ‘work wife’. They anchored his life and kept it all together.”
The characters in the play are based on these women, and then there is the siren character, played by Shirley McCarthy, who threatens to disturb everything.
“She is the one who seduces everyone. She is married to the producer to get closer to Essendine but then ends up having an affair with his manager. The other women are very wary of her because she has the potential to disrupt everything, their business, which is Essendine.
“It is all about relationships, as is life. How much loyalty we have. How much we betray one another.
The director refuses to get too serious about the significance of the play, however.
“You can’t intellectualise Noel Coward. That is not to say he isn’t profound. He wrote the most beautiful poetry. He was a man who liked to be taken seriously. You’ll see it in the play, where Garry is confronted by this up-and-coming student writer telling him his plays are frivolous. That’s Noel Coward confronting his own critics.”
She is excited for everyone to come and see the play.
“This play is timeless; the language is elegant; the vocabulary is enviable. Is it any wonder actors love to be in a Noel Coward play?”
Language matters a great deal to Mary Curtin, as it always has done. For years she has helped young people in Cork develop a love of it, preparing them for auditions, exams, and public speaking.
“I had the good fortune to live around the corner from a library from the age of seven. The greatest gift that the world got was the library. I couldn’t believe I could take books out at will because reading to me was everything. It took me away from everything.
“I love the cast of this play. They are fabulous. I have worked with most of them before - some of them many times. Ian McGuirk, who is the producer and plays the lead, is one of Cork’s well known and seasoned actors.”
The proud director then goes on to list each member of the cast, their names handwritten on the script she carries with her. She explains that naming these actors is important, considering the work they do.
“The ex-wife, Liz, is played by Ann Dorgan; his secretary is played by Rebecca Allman; Ms Erikson is played by Vanessa Hyde; Daphne Stillington is played by Marie Donovan; Roland Maule is played by Oskar Smith; Henry Lyppiatt by Jim O’Mahony; Morris Dickson by Kenneth Spate. Steve Isherwood does sound, and Drew McCarthy does lighting. The stage manager is Michael Greene, and the assistant stage manager is Maxine O Neill.”
They all get on, she says.
“It’s a play that is conducive to being in good form. I love directing dedicated, talented people like the cast of . I would be very involved with the emotional side of things. I’m not autocratic but I’m strict that the clipped, clear diction that is required in a play like this is adhered to and the cast are wonderful that they do it so naturally.”
This is a production with serious credentials, all the way from the page to the stage, and surrounding it.
Mary Curtin is delighted to direct in the Everyman Theatre again, having directed plays there so many times before.
“It’s coming off the walls there, isn’t it? It is magic. If you want to enjoy a very special experience, come along to the Everyman Theatre and experience the joy of Present Laughter.”
Tickets for the production are on sale now via the Everyman Theatre website at https://everymancork.com from €27, with tickets for groups of 10 or more available from €24.
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