Playwright refuses to accept Colgan apology
A PLAYWRIGHT who accused former Gate Theatre artistic director Michael Colgan of inappropriate behaviour has refused to accept his apology.
Grace Dyas accused Mr Colgan of using the argument of “political correctness to downplay his behaviour”, and said she didn’t accept “the premise of the apology” offered by him in the ‘Sunday Independent’.
Mr Colgan apologised to any person whom he had hurt – however, he stressed that his behaviour “should not be equated with sexual crimes”.
A PLAYWRIGHT who is among several women who accused former artistic director of the Gate Theatre Michael Colgan of inappropriate behaviour has refused to accept his apology.
Grace Dyas said she didn’t accept “the premise of the apology” offered by Mr Colgan in the ‘Sunday Independent’.
Ms Dyas, a director and playwright, posted online details of an encounter with Mr Colgan in a Dublin pub in which he was allegedly rude and verbally abusive.
A number of women, including former employees of the Gate Theatre in Dublin, have also made claims about Mr Colgan’s behaviour. These have ranged from verbal harassment to inappropriate behaviour.
Mr Colgan did not directly address the claims made by Ms Dyas or any specific allegation made by other women in his piece in the ‘Sunday Independent’.
“The main purpose of this statement is to apologise to any person, in or out of the office, whom I have hurt,” he wrote.
“I would also like to apologise to any of my friends who may have been inadvertently upset due to my ebullient behaviour.”
He wrote that he already knew he was “not politically correct” and “often sacrificed proper conduct for a punchline”.
“But realising that I have been responsible for causing distress to some of those with whom I worked so closely has shocked me, and I am truly sorry.”
He suggested the problem lay in the “obscuring of lines between my work any my life, the unseen problem of overlap between work and play”. However Mr Colgan said his behaviour “should not be equated with sexual crimes”.
“I take serious issue with much of the recent press and social media references to me. It is wrong that I have been the subject of gross insinuations and that my family have had to suffer totally false suggestions that I might be guilty of more than misjudged behaviour,” he wrote.
Ms Dyas was the first woman to speak out and told RTÉ that Mr Colgan said to her: “You’ve lost so much weight, I’d almost have sex with you.”
Ms Dyas said yesterday that she didn’t accept “the premise of the apology”.
“I believe that he was made aware by several people in his organisation over the course of his tenure that his behaviour was inappropriate,” Ms Dyas told TV3’s ‘The Sunday Show’.
“I myself told him that it was inappropriate on the night in question in the Oak Bar. I said ‘Michael, you can’t speak to me that way’.
“Other people at the table also told him that what he was saying was wrong and inappropriate and an abuse of his power in the situation.”
Ms Dyas said it was “interesting” Mr Colgan used the argument of “political correctness to downplay his behaviour”.
Ms Dyas has said she won’t engage with an independent expert hired by the Gate to review the allegations.