Next up in our series of interviews with #24HrDub volunteers (woops nearly wrote victims!) is Finbarr Doyle. Finbarr most recently appeared in Sickle Moon Production’s 2016 Dublin Fringe Festival show “Tryst” which was nominated for the Fishamble Best New Writing Award and selected to be included in Oberon Publishing’s Fresh Cuts: A selection of plays from Dublin Fringe Festival 2015 & 2016 You can find out more about Finbarr’s company which he set up with Jeda de Brí in 2012 at sicklemoonproductions.com or their Facebook page.
Firstly we asked Finbarr to introduce himself. Like many greats before him (Conor McPherson, Willie White, and my long suffering husband) Finbarr told us that Dramsoc in UCD was where he got his start in the dramatic arts. He said: “I’m an actor and playwright, and a co-founder of Sickle Moon Productions. I studied law at UCD but was absorbed into Dramsoc and the rest is more or less history.” Well at least Sickle Moon won’t ever have problems with copyright or employment issues 🙂
When asked about how he feels about taking part in The 24 Hour Plays in aid of Dublin Youth Theatre supported by BNP Paribas Real Estate, Finbarr told us about his hopes and fears, “I’m a first-timer, and I am alternately extremely excited and face-rendingly terrified. Most looking forward to – Possibly forgetting my lines and it being funny. Most scared of – Possibly forgetting my lines and it NOT being funny.” Finbarr, if we learnt anything from Steve Blount in 2015 it is that keeping your script in your underwear ALWAYS makes forgotten lines funny.
As #24HrDub is a fundraising event for Dublin Youth Theatre we asked Finbarr to cast his mind back to his youth and think about what aspect of his adult self would most surprise his teenage self? Stroking his currently clean shaven chin, he mused, “I could grow a beard after all, as it turns out. Helpful, because it hides a lot of my face.” Men have all the luck, eh?
On a more serious note and as a theatre maker on the front line we wondered what Finbarr’s thoughts were about theatre in Ireland, specifically what one thing he might change. He replied that he thinks that “there’s a big gap in funding between the big houses and the little guys. There’s lots of great young companies out there doing some brilliant work. Check them out!”
And to round it off we veered back to the realm of fantasy where us theatre types do best and asked would his preference be for Period drama or Sci-fi? Quick as you like he said, “Can’t it be both? Period drama gentleman/woman is shot into a dystopian future. Mysteries abound. There’s probably robots.” I wonder if Finbarr is angling to follow Peter Capaldi’s footsteps…