Out of site, out of this world

For Corcadorca theatre company, all of Cork is a potential stage. But now, as it marks its 20th birthday, it is setting its sights even further

THE DOWNSTAIRS auditorium of the Triskel Arts Centre in the heart of Cork city is a pretty nondescript performance space. In recent weeks the interior has been stripped back to basics and the tiered seating removed, leaving exposed brick walls and minimal lighting and stage set-up. It’s the sort of space that theatre practitioners love – a physical void they can creatively inhabit.

It was here, in 1996, that Cork theatre company Corcadorca came of age with its explosive two-hander, Disco Pigs. Corcadorca is now 20 years on the go and, to mark the anniversary, it has announced a series of public interviews drawing on the creative forces of Disco Pigs, with writer Enda Walsh and actors Cillian Murphy and Eileen Walsh taking part.

Corcadorca, which has garnered a reputation for large-scale off-site works, is also in the process of a creative about-turn: from next month the company will take up a three-year residency at the Triskel, where they will oversee the development of new work.

The move back indoors signals a new phase in Corcadorca’s development, but it also reflects the more straitened economic times. Spectacle costs, and while the company remains committed to producing outdoor works, there is recognition that its artistic output needs to evolve and increase.

Surveying Corcadorcas new home, artistic director Pat Kiernan is philosophical yet realistic. Triskel, he says, is where he was allowed to fail repeatedly at the outset of his career, and this freedom was key to his own artistic development as well as the company’s. Now is the right time to reach out to others within Cork intent on creating work; week-long residencies will be offered to suitable candidates.

“We’re trying to galvanise the theatre community, as it is fractured,” Kiernan says. “We wouldn’t be in here only for the recession.We’re also developing a big off-site show for next year, so that still continues. But the important thing is there was a rhythm to our work, and every five or six years you have to rethink. What we need to do is to be working more regularly.”

Corcadorca has had a massive impact on Cork theatre over the past two decades. The company brought Shakespeare onto the streets, gave a platform to a host of new writers from Ger Bourke to Ray Scannell, and helped push creative boundaries for a generation of younger practitioners. Crucially, the company is committed to remaining in the city. Without Corcadorca, Cork theatre would be overly influenced by reflection and sentimentality, with much amateur drama masquerading as professional theatre and the level of work in some of the bigger venues hugely inconsistent.

However, that too may be about to change, as 2011 also marks the first time Corcadorca will work in the Cork Opera House in several years, with a version of The Winter's Taleplanned for the autumn.

“The bigger theatres have a particular type of audience and they are constrained by particular financial considerations as well,” says Kiernan, “They can’t have a consistent policy. But, for the first time, there is a potential in changing that with the Opera House under new management.”

Kiernan is proud of Corcadorca’s achievements, but also wary of theatre becoming too much of a dispensable commodity. He is sceptical of branding and promoting the arts outside the environments they were created in.

“What annoys me is that when I hear of branding for the arts, particularly for audiences outside Ireland, it is never contextualised in terms of the value of the arts to the country itself. The arts are seemingly for other people, and that seems to be the thing I keep hearing. The thing I am very proud of is that our work became important to the city.”

As I take a walk around Cork with Kiernan, we pass by some of the locations transformed for theatre by Corcadorca. The former site of Sir Henry's nightclub was where the company performed a version of A Clockwork Orange.In warehouses on the Coal Quay they explored themes of love. On the summit of St Patrick's Hill they crucified Jesus, and even the top floor of Cork's County Hall got the Corcadorca makeover for last year's midsummer show.

For Corcadorca, all of Cork may be a potential stage, but Kiernan says it wasn’t exactly planned that way from the start.

"One of reasons we did site-specific work was because we couldn't really hire the Opera House or the Everyman. We weren't in a position to do that in the early days. We didn't have a policy from the start either. A Clockwork Orangewas probably our first big off-site play, and we said we'd try it because we were limited enough in venues in the city and it made financial sense."

From there the company continued to produce both new and existing work, and struck a particularly rich artistic vein by teaming up with Enda Walsh. Disco Pigspremiered in the Triskel, directed by Kiernan, subsequently toured the world, and was filmed by Kirsten Sheridan in 2001. The play also launched the career of Cillian Murphy, who pestered Kiernan for an audition.

"Corcadorca was where everything started for me," Murphy says, " Disco Pigswas my first professional job. I was 20 years old. It was a play and a part of immense quality, directed by a hugely gifted director, but of course I didn't recognise any of those things at the time. My life changed during that production. We toured the world. I made friends for life, grew up, and finally decided to try becoming an actor."

At the time of Disco Pigs, Murphy's main focus was on music. His engagement with the company quickly changed his priorities.

“Before I met Pat and saw Corcadorca’s productions, I had no idea that theatre could be something vital and exciting and of any relevance to young people. I had seen one or two creaky traditional shows around Cork, was still attracted to it, but didn’t understand it. When I met Pat everything kind of went into colour. Pat has a great appreciation of music and film as well, and I think you can see that in his productions. There really are no limits, and that appealed hugely to me.”

Casting his mind back to those early days taking to the stage in Disco Pigs, Murphy says two memories in particular stand out. "One was having a mini panic attack in the disabled toilet before the first ever show, and then the fact that the audience were so close in the front row that they would just rest their drinks up on the stage!"

Looking ahead, Kiernan says the time was right to pause and reflect on Corcadorca’s first two decades, which is how the upcoming series of public interviews came about. The company has several productions in the pipeline, including a one-woman show with Eileen Walsh, and a commitment to help develop a new play by Carmel Winters. There’s also a hope that Corcadorca will get out of Cork a little more in the years ahead.

“The thing is, we did make a commitment to doing the work in the city here,” Kiernan says. “Now, though, I am very determined to bring the stuff outside the city for the next while. Partly that came from the worry in the arts community over the last year or two. It gives you a kick in the arse to ask yourself what do you really want to do.

“I can think of a number of actors and writers resident in the city who would be embarrassed to say they were not working before. I think now in terms of the climate it’s fine to say you’re not working. The thing is, though, to do something creative while you’re waiting.”

HOW THE STAGE WAS SET

TRIAL OF JESUS

Written by Conal Creedon, this production took place on April 21st, 2000, and featured a spectacular re-enactment of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, albeit on top of Cork’s Patrick’s Hill. It featured more than 120 performers, and was subsequently filmed by RTÉ.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

This large-scale outdoor production sought to reinterpret Cork as a modern-day Venice and was Corcadorca’s offering during the citys tenure as European capital of Culture in 2005. The production moved from the old Irish distillery to the city courthouse and featured Eileen Walsh and Jerzy Gralek.

LOSING STEAM

This site-specific work (2004), written by Ray Scannell, tackled the closure of the Ford and Dunlop plants in Cork and was performed on the site where the old Ford factory used to be. The production was sponsored by Siptu and featured live music from the era.

WOYZECK

Situated on Haulbowline Naval Base, this story of a hopeless sailor was nominated for two Irish TimesTheatre Awards. The 2007 promenade production took place on an island in Cobh harbour and featured an original score by Mel Mercier.

In Conversation with Corcadorcaincludes Enda Walsh on February 24 at Cork City Gaol at 6.30pm, Cillian Murphy on May 19 at the Triskel Christchurch at 8pm, and Eileen Walsh on June 2 at City Courthouse at 6.30pm. tickets.ie. More information at corcadorca.com