Mary Healy: Theatre, Gilbert & Sullivan, Society

Mary Healy: Theatre, Gilbert & Sullivan, Society

Life History;

Mary was born circa 1958, to parents who were both involved in the theatre. Her mother was a professional costume designer. Her father was a stage manager and an actor. She appeared on stage for the first time at the Opera House when she was 7 years old. The family moved to Douglas when she was 4.
She talks about her parents’ involvement in theatre. They met while members of a Gilbert and Sullivan group, and another group, Theatre of the South, that put on Summer Revels. She comments that people often joined theatre groups for the social more than the thespian aspect. She herself became involved with Blackrock Players. She comments that Cork people go to shows which reflect both Cork and themselves as Cork people. She talks about the Everyman theatre then based in Father Mathew Street. Most theatre groups are amateur and part-time. She feels that theatregoing was more popular with Cork people in the past and that an audience for plays has been lost.
Mary talks about the superstitions associated with theatre, such as not whistling in the dressing room. She recalls a story about a ghostly figure in a showband ballroom. She talks about the fire which burned down the original Opera House building. The opera house site had previously been occupied by the Munster Hall, and then by the Atheneum. She talks about earlier, forgotten theatres of Cork dating from the 1700s, and about The Loft and Father O’Flynn.
Her own career has moved from acting to directing to administration. She discusses changes in women’s lives in Irish society.

15 June 1999

CFP_SR00269_healy_1999

Ireland; Cork; 1900s

Published Material:

Hunter, Stephen (1999), Life Journeys: Living Folklore in Ireland Today, Cork: The Northside Folklore Project.

Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive

Cork Folklore Project

English

Sound

.wav

82min 79sec

Cork Arts Theatre, Knapp's Square, Cork

Cassette