Real Wilde Child

Simon Coury 22SEPT17

ith The Hot Spot and the Byrne pubs admirably having kept music alive in this town – even during that delightful recession thingy that’s apparently over – it’s always been a bit of a trek for those looking for something a little off the rock’n’roll menu.

That there are plenty of people in this town who crave a little more than watching Ger Doyle belt out Smooth Criminal on the fiddle for the 7,342,678th time goes without saying.

It’s just that, for many, many years now, lovers of theatre, comedy, dance and whatever-you’re-having-yourself have had no particular place to go.

Until now.

It’s a sign of just how much of an appetite Greystonians have for culture in all its colours, contours and connotations that the first few shows at the town’s newly-opened arts venue, The Whale,

Forever young…

have all sold out in record time.

And as my somewhat deaf grandmother always said, honey breeds honey, baby. With The Whale hitting the

Shadow Fergus A Ryan 2017

ground running, other artists in the town are suddenly finding they have somewhere within ten minutes walk of their own home where they can perform.

Artists like Kitty LeRoux, Fiachna Ó Braonáin, Karen Gleeson, Mikel Murfi and the man standing in front of GG today, Simon Coury.

A chance meeting on Wednesday morning led to a quick check of the diary Wednesday afternoon, and now Simon is bringing his long-running production of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray to The Whale on Saturday, October 7th.

A three-man play, Coury plays Lord Henry alongside Michael James Ford as Basil and Michael Winder as Dorian, the three actors having toured this much-loved Wilde creation (the Irish writer’s only novel, first published in July 1890, in Lippincoff’s Monthly Magazine) for the last seven years.

So, you know, they probably know what they’re doing here by now.

Heck, one audience member – the artist, Fergus A Ryan – loved this production so much, he presented Simon with his own charcoal portrait. Which, we must assume, is sitting pretty in the attic right now.

Ahead of his Greystones debut, we talked to Simon about keeping up appearances, taking on a classic, and how social media has brought narcissism to a whole new level…

You can find out more about The Picture Of Dorian Gray at The Whale on Saturday, October 7th right here.