True characters
Una McKevitt, theatre maker
Tell us about your new play . . . The Big Deal is about two women’s experiences of having been born into the wrong bodies and their struggles to rectify this situation throughout their lives.
Your plays draw on real-life experiences and real-life texts . . . I think everyone has the most extraordinary life - just getting up and going about your day and falling asleep. It’s the ordinary detail that I find most revealing.
Do you think theatre has the power to change . . . I don’t consciously make political plays, but I do believe the personal is political; that change in society can be effected by engagement with the lives of others, and theatre and other mediums have the potential to play this role.
If the arts can be a life saver, do you think they also have the power to save a country . . . It’s incredibly important that we maintain arts investment in times of recession. The arts are an expression of who we are and where we are, and I think we need them now more than ever.
Has the recession shaped your work in any way . . . I left college in 2007 without any definite plan, just determined to keep trying to make theatre. Luckily for me there was a relatively new initiative called Project Brand New, which offered emerging artists 20 minutes on a professional stage to showcase their ideas; otherwise it really can be a struggle to get people who can programme your work to see it. I have a very simple aesthetic and the work I make is not incredibly expensive. This gives me some hope that I’ll be able to continue making it one way or another.
How would you describe the theatre scene in Ireland today . . . It is hungry for new work, and I don’t think an artist can ask for a better environment than one that is actively seeking risk and experimentation.
The greatest storyteller is . . . Someone you fancy on a first date.
What’s next . . . I’m making a very short film documentary with a friend about my mum playing bridge. She has played bridge with the same partner for nearly 40 years. This is our first project, an experiment really.
The Big Deal is at Barnstorm Theatre, Kilkenny, from August 10th (preview) to 14th. See kilkennyarts.ie
In conversation with Emma Somers
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