Thinking outside the box
Lifestyle - The Artistic Director of Fíbín Theatre Company, Philip Doherty, has big plans for the group, which is currently resident in An Taibhdhearc. There’s a revival of the 2020 drive-in thriller, Fiach and a new show which explores the Civil War through contemporary eyes. He’s also a filmmaker whose low-budget film Redemption of a Rogue is making its mark in the US. He tells JUDY MURPHY about his life in drama.
“It’s all my father’s fault,” jokes writer and director Philip Doherty, the Artistic Director of Fíbín Theatre Company, who can trace his love of drama and storytelling to his Cavan childhood. In that case, Philip’s father, Mel can be very happy with his role in shaping Philip’s career to date.
Fíbín, which was set up in 2003 and has its base in Baile na hAbhann, Conamara, is currently coming to the end of year one of a three-year residency in the country’s national Irish-language theatre, An Taibhdhearc, where its latest programme will be unveiled shortly.
Already, Philip is working on a revival of Fíbín’s drive-in show, Fiach, which the company premiered in Baile na hAbhann in August 2020 to great acclaim. That production had been due to run in the car-park of the city’s Black Box Theatre in October 2020, but Covid restrictions put paid to that.
Now, it’s finally happening. Fiach is on next Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12, in the Black Box car-park.
Philip is also working on a new show, Baile Beag Mór, based on his own family history, which will be presented in An Taibhdhearc later this month.
So, when Redemption of a Rogue, the low-budget film which he shot in Cavan three years ago was lauded by Variety Magazine recently, with the reviewer comparing him to the Coen Brothers and, closer to home, Martin and John McDonagh, Philip was delighted. Things don’t get much better than a favourable review from the industry bible.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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