All the world’s a stage for Tralee’s Mike

Fergus Dennehy talks to Tralee actor and performer Mike Lynch about his involvement with Tralee Musical Society, what he loves about performing and his proudest moment.

FOR those well versed in the long history of the Tralee Musical Society and all of its many brilliant productions over the years, the name and face of my next interviewee, Mike Lynch, should be well known to you all.

Having worked as a photographer at a number of the society’s functions over the past year and a half, I knew a little about Mike i.e mainly what he looked like, but I had unfortunately never had the opportunity to see him perform in person before this year.

Fast forward to the Rose of Tralee International Festival 2017 when I was making my way through the busy Town Park when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone familiar, It was Mike Lynch.

Dressed head to toe in a light camouflage syle gear, he was busy performing, along with four other performers, to a huge crowd of children and parents as part of the Festivals ‘Family Town’ event.

If the woops and cheers of delight of the gathered crowds weren’t enough to convince me that I needed to talk to him, his boundless energy and enthusiasm for his craft confirmed it for me. Two weeks later, I had his number and the interview was a go!

“My mother and my sister Sharon would have been very involved with the Musical Society from a very early age and I actually never really took part in it at all until I went to college and studied to be a PE teacher,” said Mike, speaking to The Kerryman about his performance origins last week.

“Dance was one of the strands on our curriculum and it wasn’t until I had done some these dances here that I came home and my mother and sister starting suggesting to me that I come down to one of the meetings of the society – they said I’d love it. Like that then, I went down to a rehearsal one night and the rest is history as they say,” he continued.

Having been involved with the society for nigh on 24/25 years, Mike says that he and the rest of the society sometimes needs to pinch themselves about how fast the years are flying by.

“It just flies by honestly. Sometimes we look back on all the productions that we’ve done and we can’t believe how long it’s been. Every year when we’re doing a show, we always write a little biography about our involvement, what shows we’ve done and every year as our biographies get bit longer, it’s scary to think how long we’ve been at this!” he laughed.

Having performed myself on stage for the first time earlier this, this writer can attest to how vivid those memories of your first ever performance can be. Those nerve wracking moments as you wait in the wings, wiping your sweaty palms on your pants and constantly clearing your throat as you rehearse those precious first few lines in your head.

Thankfully though for Mike, his memories are much more pleasant than mine, as he performed in the lead role of Joseph in ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” which ran for an amazing 17 productions over two runs - a rare feat for the society.

“There’s been some absolutely fantastic memories throughout the years and I suppose you’ll always remember your first few times on stage more vividly,” he said.

“My first main part would have been in the part of Joseph and I suppose my lasting memory would be that at the of the show, I was actually put up on a hydraulic lift and I was lifted up above everybody else at the back of the stage.”

There were streams of coloured cloth coming out from underneath me as part of my costume and it was just this great ‘final picture’ that I could hold onto. The fact that I was lifted up above everyone, I mean I was almost up in the lights! It was a whole new view of the Theatre, it was magical,” he continued.

No performer of course would be complete without his stage to perform on and in Mike’s case, he says that he and the rest of the Tralee Musical Society are very lucky to have Siamsa Tíre at their disposal.

“We’re absolutely blessed with Siamsa here in town. Anyone who has ever come to see our shows in Siamsa over the years, they’re blown away by the theatre and

they’ve said that we’re totally blessed and lucky to have this facility here in our town.”

“I’m even part of the Siamsa Tíre summer cast now myself and I think it’s actually scary the number of people here in town that have actually never been to see a Siamsa production in Siamsa.”

All of the socities in Ireland, we support each other quite a lot and so we’d travel around quite a bit and see other shows aswell. So, we’d see these other socities doing their shows in primary school halls, where they’d have to bring in lights and bring in a stage. Definitely in terms of our facilities that we have here then - we’re living the dream,” he laughed again.

Apart from starring in the high end productions of the Tralee Musical Society productions, another role that Mike has taken on in recent years is the aforementioned in the Rose of Tralee’s ‘Family Town’ show.

“It’s Oliver who would write the script for it and it’s just this great interactive show with the crowd and the parents just love it when they see the kids getting involved with us.”

“It was through my involvement with the Musical Society and knowing Oliver Hurley, who of course is the General Manager of the festival that I got involved in Family Town. It was himself and Bryan Carr that came up with the idea of incorporating this continuous family entertainment every year.”

The characters in it are the same every year and this is our third year doing it and it’s great that people now know the characters and they’re expecting and looking forward to the show and it always draws a good crowd every year, weather depending of course!” he continued.

When asked to choose a proudest moment from his long and distinguished performing career, it is testament to the ‘ever the team player’ in Mike’s character that he chooses a memory not just significant for himself, but also to his beloved Tralee Musical Society.

“Everybody is always proud of their major achievements and even though I generally don’t go on stage for awards or anything like that, I have to say that when we won the ‘Best Overall Show’ for ‘Michael Collins’ back in 2011, it was almost like our All-Ireland Final, you know?”

“Everybody just fell in love with the musical. Firstly because it was an Irish story written by an Irish guy and an Irish musical. It was very unique and we were the first to ever perform it and it just blew the audience away. It was such a fantastic show.”

“Even as actors, it was more than a show, Every night on stage, it was hard just holding back the tears because you could feel the connection that the audience was having with the story on stage. It was a completely powerful experience altogether.”

“We were considered the best in the country and you know this is something that we’ve always aimed towards so we were very proud.”

Despite the hours and hours of rehearsals that come with every performance and production that he and the society do, it’s all worth it with acting and performing being what its all about for Mike and the rest of the society at the end of the day.

“The reason that we’re up there first and foremost is that we just all love singing and dancing, but there’s so much more.”

That whole process of taking a show from the script and bringing it to life and being up there with the audience, who without them we would be nothing, and having them connecting with your work and getting enjoyment from what you’re doing, that’s a very special feeling,” he finished.

The whole world’s a stage for Mike and he’s only loving it.