My Weekend: 'I've gone from all free time and no money to no free time and medium money'

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work:

My name is Arran and I am a sound designer/engineer working in theatre, living in Cork. Due to my inability to concentrate on any one discipline at a time I also dabble in lighting, set building and make a variety of contraptions, often Arduino-based, needed for live events and installations. With a background originally in live music, I jumped ship to theatre when covid restrictions were (partially) lifted, and haven’t looked back since. I’ve been very lucky that my parents own and run The Corner House pub in the city centre, which has kept me uniquely spoiled with an incredible calibre of live music my whole life (obviously, I’m biased, but it is genuinely a very nice spot).

What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night?

I almost exclusively spend Friday day and night working, so I’m not sure how to even answer this question, which is humbling. Between the schedule of a freelancer and my home studio/workshop there is always the opportunity to be working on something, which is facilitating and limiting in equal measure. I would say my ideal Friday night is one with a cleared work schedule and the time to spend a totally sedentary night of indulgence with my wife, watching something completely brain-dead.

Lie ins or up with the lark.. which is it for you?

Lie ins, always lie ins. I think I could sleep for 24 hours if you left me, I could do it professionally.

Does work creep into your weekend at all?

I would say it’s more accurate to describe it as the weekend creeping into my work; it’s lucky that I really love my job (that’s not sarcasm, I genuinely do). To be such an always-on-the-verge-of-burnout workaholic now is so strange considering all I did in my 20s was play music and go on the lash. I’ve gone from all free time and no money to no free time and medium money. The novelty of my work is what keeps it so engaging. I couldn’t predict what the next thing someone is going to ask me to work on or build is.

If money was no object, where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you?

If money was no object, I think I would figure out a way to clone myself to allow the freedom to enjoy a fully untethered, stress-free weekend break from work. I am notorious for being glued to my phone trying to work remotely or provide technical support. My phone was stolen while on my honeymoon in Seville (it could’ve also just fallen out of my pocket while doing a drunken handstand), and it was a strangely liberating experience, once the initial stress subsided.... So now that I think about it, I’d go on a weekend trip to Rome, as me and my wife were supposed to be there in May 2020 for our tenth anniversary (before covid intervened), and hire someone to either operate my phone for me or steal it from me for the duration of the trip.

Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries?

In bed, with my phone, and my wife beside me. I am as productive and inventive in my professional life as I am a sedentary grub of a man in my private life.

Do you like to catch up with family/friends at the weekend?

These questions about my weekend are just further cementing my lack of a work/life balance. I do visit family, but nowhere near as much as I should. I might have to look seriously at cloning myself as I mentioned earlier. The only issue is that my clone might make clones of himself to ease his workload, then suddenly the place is lousy with Arrans, which I’m now competing with for commissions. It bears researching some failsafes.

Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator?

Finally, something I can answer that doesn’t make me sound like an antisocial hermit. I am in the very privileged position to be able to say that my hobbies are my work, and only in the last few years my various interests and disciplines have finally reached a point of aptitude where they’re actually of use professionally. My former inability to stay focused on one hobby for a prolonged period of time is finally, purely coincidentally, paying dividends. If you can do sound, a bit of AV, a bit of lighting, a bit of electronics and carpentry work, Arduino coding etc., there’s suddenly a lot of really interesting options open to you in terms of what you can achieve in live performance. I am an incorrigible gadgeteer, and that has proved very useful recently for the shows I’ve been working on.

Entertain or be entertained? If it’s the latter, do you have a signature dish?

The rare time I entertain, I tend to focus on things like projections of fish tanks on the walls, making the lighting look good, getting a proper sound system set up, almost always to the detriment of providing guests with food or even seats. I certainly wouldn’t fare well on Come Dine With Me.

We have so many places to eat out in Cork – where are your go to spots for coffee/lunch/special meal?

My Goodness in Quay Co-Op, it’s great for vegans/vegetarians and it’s dog friendly. Aside from that, I rarely venture out for food and drinks, not a great example for the son of publicans.

Sunday night comes around too fast.. how do you normally spend it?

At the risk of sounding sad: exactly how I spend my Friday nights.

What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning?

I would love to be someone with a consistent sleep schedule, but it has always eluded me. I’m currently on tour with a show that requires me to start work at 9am, so I will get up at an appropriate time for that start. When left to my own devices, though I will naturally start shifting to a nocturnal schedule, which will eventually loop back around to daytime, which will go on indefinitely if left unchecked.

Anything else you are up to right now..?

I’ve been working with an absolutely gorgeous show Grace by Graffiti Theatre Company, written by Jody O’Neill.

Working with Graffiti is always like an emotional palate cleanser. I don’t know how they can produce such great work while also being so consummately sound, and the crew they’ve curated for this show are no different.

I’m on sound design duties for an upcoming Cork Midsummer show Constellations, written by Nick Payne, opening in Cork Arts Theatre on June 16. My last collaboration with the director Al Dalton was with Misterman last November and was as challenging a design as it was genuinely rewarding, as the best endeavours always are. It’s hard to say much about the piece without spoiling it, but I will say that with the creative team behind it, there is the makings of another very special piece in that space.

Aside from that, I have some very large set pieces that I’ll be building for an INO show coming up, and about two dozen personal projects and professional repairs that are sitting at home in my studio begging to be finished, which I will get around to eventually.

• Arran McGowan is a Sound Designer and Engineer who has been working with theatre director, Al Dalton, on the Cork Arts Theatre Production of Constellations by Nick Payne, which will open on June 16 and continue until June 20, presented by Cork Arts Theatre in association with Cork Midsummer Festival. See www.corkartstheatre.com.