Cork actor: ‘In my day, it was unheard of to go away and study’

Shirley McCarthy, dedicated drama teacher, actor, musical theatre performer and former pantomime principal girl at the Cork Opera House for five years, says quite bluntly that Joan Denise Moriarty “threw me out when I was 19”.

As dramatic effects go, this packs a punch.

But Shirley, who plays the housekeeper, Frau Schmidt, in The Sound Of Music, explains why Cork’s exacting ballet company founder and ballet mistress let her go. It wasn’t due to a lack of talent. On the contrary, ballet was Shirley’s “first love”.

She explains: “Joan Denise Moriarty asked me to make a choice between ballet and acting. I would never have been a prima ballerina, but I absolutely loved it. It was amazing. It gave me great discipline. We were taught an amazing form of dance. I can see in my own students, the girl or boy, who has done dance and how hugely beneficial it is to them.

“Now, if I hear a beautiful singing voice or see a child who has beautiful movement, I talk to their mothers about getting them into ballet, or gymnastics for an agile child. That’s another fantastic avenue.”

As Frau Schmidt, Shirley is playing a woman in The Sound Of Music, which opens at Cork Opera House tomorrow, who is concerned at the absence of emotion in the Von Trapp family, some years after the death of the mother. While Schmidt is stoic and has an almost military style, Shirley says the director of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Davey Kelleher, has filled out the character so that she can play her to better effect.

What used to be a musical family, with Captain Von Trapp playing the guitar and violin, is now silent. When his wife died, the captain shut music out of his life.

“Frau Schmidt says to Maria (the new governess) that she thinks the reason the children keep getting rid of their governesses is to bring their father home. He is always away. When a governess leaves, the father has to come home to hire a new one.”

Shirley, who teaches drama at Gaelscoil Uí Riada in Bishopstown, says that she is trying to get back to her roots as a performer, “doing what I love. At 58, there are not many roles in The Sound of Music applicable to my age.”

The last time Shirley was on the stage was as Joanna in the Noel Coward play, Present Laughter, at the Everyman last year. She is often offered acting roles, but has had to turn them down over the years because of family responsibilities.

“But my son Jack has finished his Leaving Cert and is driving and is more independent. It’s an opportunity for me.”

Shirley’s daughter Lauren is a primary school teacher.

When WoW spoke to Shirley, she was about to head off to Italy with her husband to see Jack perform with the Cork Youth Orchestra there. Shirley encouraged her children to play music. One of her regrets is that she never learned to play an instrument.

“I did ballet, tap dance and modern dance as well as drama. There was never time to play a musical instrument. At school, people would be going off to play the violin. A parent had to attend the violin lessons. Both my parents worked full-time, so that wasn’t possible.”

Shirley says learning a musical instrument helps build confidence in children. “You can see that in children today, the way they do everything. Many years ago, if you were sporty, it wasn’t considered cool to be on the stage. Now, people realise that all these activities complement each other. Boys can be brilliant on the GAA pitch and do gymnastics as well.”

Teaching for just over 40 years, Shirley started her career with the Montforts, founded by the late Eileen Nolan. Initially, she worked in Eileen’s nursery for children, teaching them songs among other activities. Shirley would then take the bus home, have lunch, pick up her bag of books, her synthesiser, her dancing shoes, and take the bus to whatever studio she was teaching in.

“I worked in a different studio every day, all over Cork, carrying all my stuff with me. You’d finish your class, and sometimes a taxi would take you to the Opera House stage door so you could go to rehearsals. It was 24/7. It may sound tough going, but it was all we knew

“We were privileged to be part of some of the amazing shows at the Cork Opera House.”

Nowadays, Shirley says that young people have to choose either teaching or performing.

“A lot of the time, people go away to study drama. They come back and end up teaching because, unfortunately, there aren’t enough (performing) jobs for the amount of people who are good at acting.

“In my day, it was unheard of to go away and study. It would probably have been beyond our means to go to a college in London. Now, I suppose, people have more means.”

Shirley spent six and a half years living and working in Australia, where she played Nancy in Oliver! and Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Over the years, Shirley has worked with Cork’s leading theatre and musical practitioners. “There were amazing people like Eileen Nolan, Michael Twomey and Ronnie O’Shaughnessy (who died on July 5).

“Ronnie was musical director of everything in Cork. She taught so many different people, working at the Opera House in the pantos and Summer Revels. She would teach us the most incredible harmonies. It’s hard to come by people like Ronnie. They were real heroes of theatre.”

The Sound Of Music is at the Cork Opera House from July 23 to August 23. See www.corkoperahouse.ie.