Retired Everyman Chair Denis McSweeney with CEO Sean Kelly. Photo: The Everyman/Facebook

Everyman stalwart takes a bow

The long-serving Chair of The Everyman, Denis McSweeney, has retired from his role at the theatre after years of service to the arts in Cork city.

A retired marketing director of Ford Ireland, Mr McSweeney made his acting debut on the Everyman stage in November 1972.

“Everyman Theatre Company was then an amateur effort bringing to Cork audiences the very best in international drama,” recalls McSweeney in his farewell letter to his beloved theatre.

“I dare say it could be called a golden age as we played our way through the ‘70s and ‘80s, undaunted by the scope of the works we attempted.”

McSweeney went on to be cast in many memorable productions including ‘A Man for All Seasons’, ‘The Silver Tassie’, ‘The Death and Resurrection of Mr Roche’, ‘A Family Reunion’, ‘A Flea in Her Ear’, ‘The Front Page’, and ‘Mr Joyce is Leaving Paris’.

Denis had met his wife Íde earlier in 1972 through the Cork Shakespearean Company and played in many of the previously mentioned productions together.

The were married in 1975 shortly after having done “the Scottish play” at theCork Opera House.

“After the turn of the millennium, I was approached to take a governance role on the board at Everyman Palace, which by then had evolved into a professional company with state support and appropriate lines of accountability,” says Denis.

“Everyman is now a significant national venue for theatre, premiering substantial new works, commissioning new theatre and training artists and professional in their craft,” the Cork man added.