This travelling theatre continues to bring the exotic to remote and rural areas of West Cork, writes JACKIE KEOGH.

GEOFF Gould’s outstanding work in bringing professional theatre to rural communities across West Cork is just one part of his story.

It needs to be told in three acts, but first, a prologue: the head of the West Cork Fit-up Festival said being named Cork Person of the Month, placing him in the line-up for the Cork Person of Year award in January, belongs to ‘the team’ – a cast of characters including volunteers, actors, writers and community-minded people.

Starting at the beginning with his childhood memories, Geoff said his grandfather, Geoffrey O’Donoghue, was the kind of man who would light his pipe from the cigarette he’d just finished and regale them with stories as they sat around the fire.

His grandfather’s home was in Curragh, Clonakilty, a place where he and his siblings would regularly visit from their home in Fermoy.

Geoff (63) believes that his grandfather, a first cousin to the Republican Tom Barry, must have had something of the Shanakee about him because his daughter Maureen was became heavily involved in theatre doing make-up. It was there she met her life partner, John Gould, who aside from his day job as a supplies officer with the Moorepark Food Research Centre was a brilliant am dram actor by night.

Theoretically, the family was middle class, but Geoff said: ‘No one at that time was well off or comfortable. If you were middle class you had a mortgage and that was crippling, or 60% of wages went on tax. But we were never short of anything.’

A remarkable aspect of Geoff’s story is that his mother had an aneurism when he was born. She was warned not to have any more children, but along came Geoff’s brother Bernie, sisters Elaine and Marie at about nine-month intervals, as well as Fiona a few years later.

Their next home was in Fermoy. There, the couple continued their involvement with the Fermoy Choral Society. At the time, Geoff said he initially felt as if his time was being robbed of his free time, but meeting Edmund Carroll, the society’s musical director, made an abiding impression on him.

‘I learned a lot from him. He had very clear focus and everyone worked to that,’ said Geoff.

The second act began, when at the age of 21, Geoff took up a job with old Cork Savings Bank – but not before he ‘spectacularly flunked’ out of three university courses.

The job brought him, and his wife Jacinta Kiely, to live and work in Mallow. Geoff said: ‘Jacinta is an integral part of everything, every decision I have made has been attached to her.’

Singing and playing a guitar in a pub ended up with him being roped into musicals in Mallow. He felt he was not an actor, but by now he was hooked by the creative process. And the next step, act three, saw him give up his good job in the bank, much to the horror of many who have since apologised and told him that it was, in hindsight, a brilliant decision.

Of course, it wasn’t all plain sailing. His first foray into the business full-time saw him work for five years as the artistic director of The Everyman. At the time, the couple were living near Ballydehob at Skeaghanore, just 100m from the shore.

Geoff likened his time with the Everyman to a washing machine, saying it was ‘topsy turvy’.

As a self-trained director, he applied to the LAMDA, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, to do a one-year diploma course that led to many jobs in the theatre.

But these jobs can be sporadic at best so he worked as a chef, drove cars at the Ryder Cup, and as a builder with his mate, Niall O’Sullivan, who together with John ‘Chello’ Hollman subsequently transformed Jacinta’s family homestead into their now forever home.

Throughout all of this, Geoff describes the support he received from Jacinta, who is an archaeologist by profession, as steadfast. ‘She is more grounded than her mad husband,’ Geoff said.

Going back to their roots was important for Jacinta but it served to remind Geoff of his own roots and the stories his grandfather would tell about the fit-up shows and plays that would come to town.

‘It instilled in me a fascination with travelling troupes,’ said Geoff who could, until recently, tangibly point to the green shed his grandfather, and three other men, built to house travelling shows at Lisavaird.

‘During the economic crash of 2008, theatre fell apart, but that, for us, was a starting point and the following year it began with Joan Sheehy performing in the play Smallone.’

When the troupe arrived in Kilcrohane they discovered there was no roof on the building and they performed for a smaller audience of about 40 in the
local pub.

Having Christy Moore in the audience helped because he tweeted about the production and the next show at Ballydehob Community Hall drew a crowd of more than 200 people.

That first year also drew on the talents of writer Michael Harding appearing in Tinker’s Curse and Skibbereen’s own Don Wycherley and Denis Foley in Conal Creedon’s play When I was God.

Cork County Council’s Arts Officer, Ian McDonagh, got the ball rolling with a €8,000 grant in their very first year. And Geoff is generous too in his praise of Pat Kinevane, the talented actor from Cobh who has been a true friend to the festival.

This year, the festival received a €19,000 grant from Cork County Council and €40,000 from the Arts Council.

Geoff said it is not lucrative and by holding their ticket prices at €15 they are achieving their singular object of getting people to go to the theatre. Geoff is currently the artistic director of the Blood in the Alley Theatre Company is busy with their own programme of plays and touring dates each year.

To what does Geoff attribute the exponential growth in travelling theatre? He says: ‘It brings the exotic to you.’