David Doyle-
There are few names more important in the theatrical world than Michael Colgan, current Director of the Gate Theatre, and certainly none who have had such sustained critical success throughout their career as he has. His career at the Gate, which has spanned over twenty-five years, has seen him oversee the hugely important Beckett and Pinter Festivals as well as numerous award-winning productions. However the groundwork for this success doesn’t lie in stage schools or drama college but rather in DU Players and this month, Michael has taken time out of his hectic schedule to talk to University Times Culture about his time in Trinity, his current role at the Gate Theatre and to share his opinions about the Irish theatrical world.
When Michael first entered Trinity in October 1968 he thought that the moment would have “a major influence” on his life and in hindsight it did fundamentally alter the direction his life would take. Prior to starting in Trinity, he had no experience and indeed no real interest in the theatre but his involvement in Players was to alter his route through life and start him on a journey that would see him rise to the pinnacle of Irish theatre.
You might think that it was a love of theatre or a burning creative passion that led Michael to Players’ Theatre but in actual fact it was an attractive girl that first led him into the society. He explained, “My first year was spent telling lies to girls and playing poker in the junior common room. It was a good life because my ability to keep a straight face worked well for both scenarios. At the beginning of my second year, in fact, during freshers week, I was losing heavily in the Common Room and came out for some air. They were giving free coffee downstairs at number 4, some society or other. Only when I went down did I realise it was Players. Some attractive girl asked me to come to a meeting on Thursday night. I said yes.”
It was that decision to go to the meeting that led to Michael’s first theatrical production in Richard Fegen’s production of Andorra written by Max Frisch which he signed up for the non-speaking role of a black shirt opposite Paul McGuinness. The role required nothing more than looking like a fierce soldier but it marked a seminal moment in both Michael’s theatrical and personal life, something which Colgan himself acknowledges, remarking, “Andorra meant a great deal to me. It starred Susan FitzGerald who became my wife and besides Paul McGuinness, it also starred Paolo Tullio, both of whom have been my best friends for 40 years.”
However this friendship with McGuiness was often tested as they both carved out similar niches as directors and indeed once McGuiness declared his intention to run for the position of chair of Players, Colgan actively began campaigning for the only other contender in the race. However on election day, much to his surprise, someone nominated Michael for the position and despite having no intention to run, he found himself elected chair of DU Players and it was this position that granted him his first insights into professional theatre during his first summer as chair.
The Gate Theatre
“That summer the Artistic Director of the Abbey, Thomas McAnna, rented our tiny theatre for a week. I asked all of my committee to be around so that we could give an excellent service and justify our huge rental – I think it was 25 pounds! Nobody turned up and for a week, I was Mr McAnna’s trustee assistant; running up and down ladders, buying his cigarettes, painting bits of scenery and happily doing all that was required. At the end of the week, McAnna a well-known republican asked “What will you do when you leave this Protestant establishment?” I said I was going to be a Psychologist. He said “You will do nothing of the sort. You will join the Abbey Theatre”. More than a year later, when I got my degree, I telephoned his office, and he said, “You will start on Monday”. And I did.”
Colgan did indeed start on the Monday and worked at the Abbey for five years before joining the Irish Theatre Company and then the Dublin Theatre Festival before becoming the Director of the Gate in 1983. It was at the Gate that Michael forged a hugely successful career, becoming one of the most well respected men in theatre but he’s not content to merely rest on his laurels and is constantly striving to achieve new things. One of his current projects is the Gate Lab which seeks to be a forum for writers, directors and actors in which they can experiment and workshop. Colgan wants it to be a place in which people can “explore in an environment where it is ok to fail”, something which is crucial for the future of Irish theatre.
Indeed this latest initiative is crucial in combating what Michael sees as the primary problem for Irish theatre, not having the systems in place to channel what he views as the immense talent that the Irish theatre world produces. Worried about losing yet more acting talent overseas, he wishes to see the reduction in the amount of luck needed to forge out a successful career on the stage in Ireland. To do this, he suggests that “the city needs more venues of a smaller size (I can’t think how bereft we would be without Project) and I believe that the Arts Council should initiate and subsidize a proper mentoring scheme. The talent is there, we just need to know how to channel it.”
Indeed Michael sees student theatre as being of crucial importance to the future development of theatre in Ireland, suggesting that there is “nothing more important” then it. Indeed it is clear that Michael wouldn’t be where he is today without the student theatre movement, it gave him his first taste of theatre, his first job in the professional theatrical world and perhaps most importantly the skills needed to forge out the hugely successful career that he now has and it is clear that Michael hasn’t forgotten the huge and lasting impact that Players has had on his life, saying “ it was certainly Trinity Players that taught me that this was the life for me and sent me on the right road.”
