Growing up in Siamsa... Meet our artistic director Jonathan Kelliher

Jonathan Kelliher

I grew up in Banemore, near Listowel in North Kerry.  The Teach Siamsa Training centre in Finuge was only three miles from my home.  I had an older sister and brother already attending the training, so it was natural that I would audition and try my luck also.

I remember I actually missed the night of the audition - I was at the Listowel races and forgot all about the them!  Luckily for me, I got a second chance and Fr Pat auditioned me on the night that classes were starting.  I passed the audition and he told me to go and join the rest of the class.  That was in 1980.  After completing my three years there I was accepted into the advanced classes in Tralee.  My first performance on the main stage in Tralee was during the summer of 1984.  The show was the original Siamsa show, Fadó Fadó.  30 years on, even though I don’t perform as regularly as I used to, I still get that buzz when I step on the stage. 

In costume for Ding Dong Dedero in 1991

 In 1989 I was offered a job with the full time company.  I remember my interview for that job very clearly.  I was in the Bog, turning turf with Martin Whelan one morning very early.  Martin turned to me and said, “You know there’s a job going in the Core Group in October, would you fancy it?”, and that was it, I got the job and thanks to Martin I’m still here.  In the early years, I performed every summer in Tralee, but also toured all over the world.  I have had the pleasure of meeting and performing for presidents, kings, queens and many famous people.  One of the most memorable would have to be Neil Armstrong who visited our theatre in 1997.

In 2000 I was made Dance Master, and then in 2006 appointed Artistic Director.

I think this is one of the great things about the Siamsa system - anyone can work their way from the training system right through the ranks and eventually become Artistic Director.  This is why the training is so important,  the idea that some young child attending the auditions this year could eventually be as lucky as I and have a career in something they really love and enjoy.  There is a very strong possibility that a future Artistic Director is performing or training with us at the moment.

The setting up of the training in 1974 was one of the most important events in the history of the company.  This training is the life blood that feeds everything we do here, and 40 years on, it is still as successful and important as it was back in 1974.

Siamsa has never been a job to me, it has always been a passion.  Yes, you get days when you would love to run away, but it has that special something that cannot be put into words, something that keeps drawing you back in. The day you lose that something is the day you walk away.

 40 years ago next October, Liam Tarrant, one of the Siamsa family, died on the stage during a ceremony marking the turning of the sod for the second Teach Siamsa training centre in Carraig, West Kerry.  Even though I never met Liam, I feel I know him.  So many people speak fondly of him.  Liam had a saying that still survives in Siamsa to this day, a saying that in a way sums up what the company is and how everyone involved since its beginnings to present day feel about it.

“Tis a great auld Siamsa”.

Jimmy McDonnell recalls some changes over the years

I started my Siamsa career in 1966 as a musician playing a two row button accordion alongside Anne Sheehy from Kilflynn and Marie Kelliher from Tralee.  In the middle of our first season I was moved  to lighting where I assisted Sean Hanafin for a short while before taking over when Sean left for Maynooth to study for the priesthood. Today Fr Sean is our Dean.

Jimmy at the lighting control desk - a few years ago!!!

In those days we had a small Junior 8 Dimmer Board. Today we have a Memory Lighting Console. The Junior 8 was a small 4 dimmer unit I could control eight lights in comparison to the Memory desk today which can control hundreds of lights as well as automated lights. The Memory desk works like any home computer. It can record lighting states and play them back at the push of a button. Martin Whelan, the first General Manager always said “Mac, someday you’ll be able to control the lights from your armchair at home”. Today we can almost do that.

When I look at what we started with in the Technical Department in those early days and look at it now, huge changes have taken place - from simple lighting and sound desks to digital desks and lights. In the early days the lighting crew consisted of Billy Boyd, Jonny Ready, Sean Hanafin and myself. Des Hurley took over from me as the Technical Manager in recent years.      
         

The thatched roof of the cottage

It brings me back to my first night lighting a Siamsa show in a different venue at the Fruits de Mar festival in Kenmare in 1968.  I was a very nervous young fellow and had my reading light that I used to read my lighting cue sheet plugged into the dimmer board. When I went to black out the lights during the show, my reading light also went out, leaving me in the dark.  I couldn’t find the blackout switch to restore light. With Fr Pat Ahern behind me I clawed and groped looking for that switch, eventually finding it.  I learned after that night to always carry a flashlight whenever I’m lighting a show.

Jimmy working on the cottage of Fadó Fadó this week

In preparation for the start of the 40th Anniversary season I am repairing the Fadó Fadó set.
Over the years the structure had disintegrated, so I am replacing the old plywood with new plywood and giving it a finish to resemble a stone wall. There will be a new fire inside the cottage as well as a new bonfire, new pump/well and a stone finished wall as a ground row upstage.