Oliver Hurley reflects on epic theatre journey
In this weeks interview, Fergus Dennehy, talks to Tralee’s very own theatre legend, Oliver Hurley, about his continued love of the theatre world, and how he still feels immense pride at being able to work with such a talented and hardworking group of people.
THE name of Oliver Hurley is one that really needs no introduction; this award winning director has become so synonomus with the theatre here in Kerry that it is hard to imagine a time when he wasn’t involved in the business that they call show.
For those of us out there who have not been fortunate enough to have worked with or met the talented St Brendan’s Park native in person, it is a testament to the work, passion and obvious dedicationof the man that just the mere mention of his name is enough to elicit thoughts of high quality, creative and throughly enjoyable productions.
I can’t go as far to say theatre is in his blood, but for a man who has been heabily involved in the craft of acting and performing since the tender age of 11, I certainly can have no qualms about saying that over the four decades or so, Oliver has certainly put his fair share of blood, sweat and tears into his work, work that he admits that he has been fortunate to have been given so many opportunities with.
“In my time with Siamsa, I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to travel all over the world with them; Siamsa is where I gained my love for the theatre, through their wonderful training and through their founding director, Father Pat Ahern, who would have been a great inspiration to me when I was growing up,” said Oliver, talking to
The Kerryman last week. “I was involved from the age of 11 in this amazing world of theatre and I suppose that this is where I really formed the love for theatre; I mean, back in 1976, I was very fortunate that my first ever tour with the company was over to America and in that tour, we did Broadway and we sold out our performance.”
“We came back from this performance and we were heroes back in Tralee, we had a civic reception and everything; I mean, can you imagine, as an 11-year old, experiencing all of this? What a start it was for me in the theatre world and how fortunate I was to have been given those opportunities from such a young age,” he continued.
Little did that young OIiver know that these opportunities would soon blossom into a fully fledged career, largely thanks to Fr Ahern, a man that Oliver admits was an inspiration to him during the fledgling years of his career.
“He was a genius in the way of theatre and very different in his way of seeing how Irish tradition and culture could be portrayed on stage and so I learnt a lot from him and because of the way that I admired his attitude, the idea of theatre sort of grew into this career for me as upon leaving school, Siamsa would have created a professional core company for the first time ever.”
“I became part of this team of four and we became professionals within the business and we were trained in all aspects of performing, from music to singing to all varieties of dance and so this completed my formal training.”