Person to Person: 'I'm more of a saver...unless it’s food, where I am happy to spend and spend'

Tell us about yourself;

I’m a theatre artist making work in Cork. I write plays and musicals for audiences of all ages and I perform in them.

Where were you born?

The Bon Secours, Cork

Where do you live?

Near St Luke’s Cross, on a steep, rutted road that is soon to be one-way, within walking distance of the city centre, and awash in the scents of brewing and coffee roasting that sweep across the river from the marina.

Family?

My wife Rebecca, who is a film director and screenplay writer, and my daughter Iris who is in Junior Infants.

Best friend?

I am lucky to have several close and wonderful friends, who I rely on a lot. In primary school (St Patrick’s Boys National School) I remember being really protective of my Best Friend and then being annoyed and upset if someone else dared hang out with him. Over time, the idea of a singular Best Friend dissolved and an awful lot of stress with it!

Earliest childhood memory?

Propping up my younger sister so she could watch TV, she couldn’t sit yet, and marvelling at her repeatedly tilting backwards.

Person you most admire?

Brian Corcoran. Cork hurler. Idolised when I was a child, playing hurling myself, and I have been in the same room as him as an adult twice, but never plucked up the courage to go and talk to him. I will the next time.

Person who most irritates you?

Whoever controls the volume on the PA system at Kent Station in the late evening, which makes ENORMOUSLY LOUD announcements about platforms.

Where was your most memorable holiday?

We had a lovely week on Cape Clear last summer, I love going there.

Favourite TV programme?

I really enjoyed Unfamiliar recently. The Rehearsal season 2 was extraordinary.

Favourite radio show?

Arena on RTÉ probably. Also, John Kelly’s Mystery Train on Lyric FM.

Your signature dish if cooking?

Porridge. Excellent water-based, cinnamon augmented, lightly salted porridge. With honey, if it’s the weekend. A scattering of seeds and chopped fruit. Best served with coffee.

Favourite restaurant?

Goldie on Oliver Plunkett Street.

Last book you read?

Lorrie Moore’s A Gate At The Stairs. I’m still actually reading it. Before that it was Strangers by Taichi Yamada.

Best book you read?

Kind of impossible to single one out. Recently, I really enjoyed Jon Fosse’s Vaim. Orbital by Samantha Harvey too.

Last album/CD/download you bought?

The Smile - Cutouts.

Favourite song?

A bit impossible too. At the moment Let Me Be, a Mick Flannery song Tabitha Smyth sings in this musical I’m in that goes so low and soars so high and gets me every time.

One person you would like to see in concert?

Tom Waits.

Do you have a pet?

I do not. We have semi-guaranteed our daughter that a pet will materialise at some point in her young life, so we better get on that.

Morning person or night owl?

A bit of both, depending on the day. I get into rhythms depending on what’s going on in work, so if I’m writing a lot, it’s usually mornings that I’m most me, and if I’m performing, that starts to tilt later in the day.

Your proudest moment?

It’s an extended one, being Iris’s dad.

Spendthrift or saver?

More of a saver. Unless it’s food, where I am happy (and lucky) to spend and spend.

Name one thing you would improve in your area in which you live?

More trees. Local groups are making great use of limited spaces for planting, growing, opening up spaces for children to play in and communities to share, which should be supported more readily by the city council.

What makes you happy?

Being alive generally. Conversations with friends, family, or total strangers in the course of a day. Coffee. A good book. Hearing music. Bumping into someone and catching up. Seeing nieces and nephews at Christmas. Talking about theatre and its endless potential.

How would you like to be remembered?

At a noisy, busy dinner table.

What else are you up to at the moment?

I’m writing the remaining scenes of Gull, a play with songs I’m making in association with ALSA Productions, and with the support of the Arts Council, Cork Theatre Collective, Once Off Productions, Cork Opera House and the Gate Theatre Dublin.

• John McCarthy appears in Mick Flannery’s musical, The House Must Win, which is at The Everyman from today (Wednesday, May 6) until Saturday, May 19. Set on the western edge of Ireland in the 1970s, it follows two brothers living with the odds stacked against them. Each takes a different path in the hope of leading a “good” life, both trying to honour the woman who holds their hearts. In a town of backroom poker games, secrets and bribes, broken families and broken hearts, the people of this place must learn how to play the cards they’ve been dealt — and discover what it truly means when the house must win.
• Directed by Julie Kelleher, with Liam Robinson (Hadestown), as Music Supervisor and Ciarán Bagnall on Set & Lighting Design, the creative team has worked closely with Mick over the past three years shaping the world he has envisioned through this new script and its 21 songs. Tommy Tiernan makes his musical theatre debut in the role of Ray while Belfast actor and singer/songwriter, Tabitha Smyth, plays Grace, his daughter. The ensemble cast includes Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (Sing Street) Niall McNamee (Saipan) John Mc Carthy, Orlagh De Bhaldraithe and Damien Kearney. See www.eveymancork.com