My Dublin

Alice Coghlan, director

BACKGROUND I grew up in Northamptonshire (I’m part Irish, English and American) and the Royal Shakespeare Company was down the road. Loving their shows made me want to become a theatre – and latterly an opera – director. Working at the Abbey got me writing.

HOME I love Dublin 8, where I live – Dublin’s oldest quarter. Thomas Street was where the 1798 rebels hid out in houses along its upper end. Local legend says that there are tunnels from under houses and taverns like the Brazen Head that go down under the Liffey, so that the rebels could escape the ‘Evil English.’

OUTDOORS My apartment at Islandbridge has a view over the Liffey Weir. I love having a barbeque on the island in summer and being so close to nature. I walk up the river to Chapelizod to get away from cabin fever when I’m playwriting.

FOOD I make a lot of Thai food for friends as I used to live and work there – the Asian Supermarket on George’s Street is a great place to find those ingredients and, most importantly, a translator for the Chinese packaging.

RESTAURANTS A quality career in the arts is sustained by having an encylopædic knowledge of Early Bird menus. My favourite is Tante Zoe for Cajun food, Juice on George’s Street for vegetarian food, Café di Napoli on Westland Row for great coffee and staff, and Ukiyo for a zen lunch.

BARS Since my first year in Trinity, Doyle’s on College Green has been a most regular watering hole. They are great supporters of the arts – my first Abbey opening night ended up there at 3am.
architecture Since we staged The Miser in a beautifully restored Georgian house, I’ve developed a passion for Georgian Dublin and am spotting examples of it everywhere.

HEROES Infinite numbers of directors and composing and libretti teams like Mozart and Da Ponte and Kander and Ebb. And my father Tim Coghlan, a brilliant entrepreneur who started his own canal business at Braunston Marina from nothing. They call him the ‘Canal King’ these days.

PETS Our family’s ‘yap dog’ Frazzle died this year – I’m still in mourning. My parents have a cute new West Highland puppy, Haggis, who looks like a baby polar bear.

HOBBIES Travel. I’ve backpacked through 20-odd countries in West Africa, South East Asia and North America and often go solo as you have more adventures – though it can be hairy too. I always have a phantom husband around the corner or a wedding ring handy – that tends to get rid of unsolicited male attention!

BEST TRAIT My energy? ‘Carpe Diem’ is my motto. Someone extremely close to me died aged 27 – so I know that this short life is for living and loving and I try to stay optimistic during those drizzly days of ‘emigration weather.’

WORK The Abbey has been going through a renaissance under Fiach [MacConghail] and it’s great to have been a tiny cog in that process. I’ve just finished Dublin Theatre Festival’s Emerging Artists Programme – it really blew my mind to watch all the shows and then do workshops and training with world-class artists.

ACTORS My dream list would include... Oh, Judi Dench, Anthony Sher or Cate Blanchett – and in Ireland, Mary Murray, Dearbhla Crotty and Aidan Kelly.

Molière’s The Miser will be staged in the James Joyce Centre, North Great George’s St, Dublin 1, from December 5th-15th. Tickets 878 8547, www.jamesjoyce.ie.