New year, new role: An interview with Killian Collins

January’s arrival marked the start of a new role for Killian Collins, who became manager of the Dean Crowe Theatre at the outset of what is likely to be a significant year for the Athlone venue.

A refurbishment of the theatre has been planned for a couple of years now and is pencilled in to start after this year’s RTE All Ireland Drama Festival in May.

In recent years Killian’s predecessor as manager, Gayle Tarmey, was involved in planning for the revamp which is expected to cost over €200,000. The theatre is due to close for the summer months to allow the work be carried out.

The project will include the installation of new, removable, seating which will potentially allow for the staging of standing concerts or cabaret-style tables and seating. 

“That will allow a huge amount of flexibility in terms of the type of event you can offer,” explains Killian.

Some of the technical equipment at the theatre will be updated, while accessibility improvements are planned in the foyer, and there will be a refurbishment of the bar area.

In addition, the ladies’ toilets are to be doubled in size. “That means you’ll get shorter interval queues. Not enough toilets, for ladies particularly, is a problem with every theatre in the world. It’s a very practical detail that will make a difference to people,” he says. 

The affable Fermoy native has been involved for many years in theatre, both in terms of acting, directing, and production management. He had fond memories of the Dean Crowe from previous visits when he was performing as part of the Ballyduff Drama Group at the All Ireland Drama Festival.

“My last performance on stage was here three and a half years ago, at the 2015 finals. We did a play called Taking Over The Asylum, which came third.

“I would look at that as the best night I had on stage in terms of enjoying the night and feeling that I had nailed my own individual performance.”

He says the visits to the Drama Festival were always memorable but he missed out on some of the activity around the event because he was focused on playing his role.

“Now, as I’m coming into this job, my mother could tell you ten restaurants (in Athlone) and I couldn’t tell you any! I could tell you how to get from the Shamrock Lodge to the Dean Crowe and into the dressing room!” he smiles.

In 2010, Killian and a friend, Brian Fenton, established the Colton Theatre Company after they both graduated from University College Cork (UCC) at the same time.

“Brian wanted to be an actor and I wanted to be a director, so it was a good chance to create work for ourselves and try to establish a company.

“We produced three or four things over the next two to three years. We would have gone from a Conor McPherson play, with three actors, to a big Jacobean tragedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, with 20 people in it.

“That was something we were doing for a while, while also performing in shows and doing other bits and pieces.”

In recent years he has been working on musicals, plays, and pantos across various parts of the country including Killarney, Waterford, Cork, Mitchelstown and Dublin. It’s meant clocking up a lot of mileage and this is something he continues to do as he lives in Cork city while commuting to the new role (which is on a part-time basis) in Athlone.

Killian got married last August to Deirdre, a musician who works in the School of Music in Cork. His interests are evident from the three podcasts he listens to most regularly: the ‘Second Captains’ sports podcast, ‘The West Wing Weekly’ (about the political TV drama) and ‘Desert Island Discs’

“I swam for years and I still do a bit of lifeguarding in the swimming pool in Fermoy,” he adds. “I teach a bit of water safety as well with Irish Water Safety.”

In addition to his years of involvement in the Arts, he has a methodical approach to work which he believes will be beneficial in managing the Dean Crowe.

“I did a degree in Government in UCC, and they always would have told me at home that I was destined for the civil service,” he says.

“So, in some ways, I’m a bit of an enigma in that it’s very creative work but at the same time I can be very methodical in terms of being organised about it.”

He believes that the Dean Crowe has the potential to become the best regional theatre in the country in the years ahead.

“The potential of the venue is amazing. It’s big enough to make money in terms of the capacity. To have 466 seats is pretty decent. I know that The Everyman Theatre in Cork has about 650 seats and is the tenth biggest auditorium in the country.

“So (the Dean Crowe) is big enough to make money but small enough to manage and still have an intimate experience.

“It’s obviously centrally located, so within a one-hour or two-hour radius you’re touching a massive portion of the population. I suppose I’m thinking of that less from an audience perspective and more in terms of what groups are touring and what’s available in terms of programming content.”

He also emphasises the quality of the acoustics in the venue from a performer’s perspective; “You open your mouth and you don’t have to work – you feel like you’re talking to the whole room in a whisper.”

Killian agrees that the marketing and promotion of events in the theatre is something which could be improved.

“From my point of view I’d be very much into creating a structured plan for that. I’m not a fan of the reactionary, panic-marketing, campaign.”

He hopes this new marketing plan will be in place by the summer to promote the programme of events at the venue from September to December.

Killian said another aspiration would be to further connect with the local community by putting an education programme in place at the Dean Crowe.

“The hope for me would be that we’d be able to develop relationships with all of the schools, and the college, and create a mixture of workshops and training in, not just the performance end, but also the technical theatre end. 

“I’d hope that we could develop a cohort of people who can work with us, ultimately.”

His time as manager will be a success, he believes, if performers and audience members come to associate the venue with good times.

“I want to make it a place where people can have a really good time,” he says. “Whether that’s, as an audience member, knowing the things you go to see there are of a reliable quality and a good night out.

“Now, that good night out could be a play that you’re coming out heartbroken from, or it could be a gig or a comedy gig.

“Or it could be having a good time from the point of view of a performer, because the place is well set-up and is a nice space to perform in,” he concludes.