Sir, – What a corker celebration of the Everyman Theatre (Mary Leland, An Irishwoman's Diary, December 17th). For 50 years the Everyman has consistently kept quality drama alive in Cork via its three venues, expertly negotiating the trick of staging fine popular as well as less popular drama.
I still relish the memory of the atmosphere in the packed houses when the Fr Mathew Hall was its venue. I even worked as sound manager in the crow's nest above the stage for a production of the popular comedy Hobson's Choice in the mid-1970s. On a recent trip to Cork, I enjoyed Eamon Morrissey preforming The Brother in the Palace Theatre, the grand Victorian venue where the Everyman is now based.
WB Yeats, in a letter to Lady Gregory, wrote, “I have always wished however to live in Cork & start some kind of movement or theatre there”. ‘
The founders of the theatre, John O’Shea, Rachel Burrows, Dan Donovan and Seán Ó Tuama managed that, and it is a joy that it still continues, surviving hard financial trials, and with little help.
The Everyman, as Mary Leland points out, has nurtured such talents as Donall Farmer, Dermot Crowley, Kieran Ahern, Fiona Shaw and the designer Bob Crowley, and thankfully it continues to thrive and add to the artistic life of Cork City. Another curtain call please, and another. – Yours, etc,
GREG DELANTY,
Burlington, Vermont, US.