INTERVIEW | Actor talks all things art degrees, freelancing and creativity

Darren Yorke is a Longford actor, teaching facilitator and improviser, who attended Stonepark National School, and then went to Trinity College Dublin. Having recently performed in Backstage Theatre for ‘He Dies in the End’ which was later taken to the Dublin Fringe Festival, Darren has always exercised his many interests to show that an arts degree can lead to several flexible and rewarding avenues.

The first in his family to pursue the arts, Darren got involved with the Backstage Theatre Youth Group where it all began for him, which gave him a glimpse into what it was like to be on stage. He also did drama with Anne McGuinness in Newtownforbes.

With the Dublin Fringe Festival over, the proud Longford man came to chat about his beginnings to where he is now.

Where in Longford are you from?
Clonterm, just outside Longford town.

What was your first acting experience that led to you wanting to pursue it as a career?
It all started in Stonepark National School. We did a big 'concert' involving all the students every year. My teachers were brilliant. I also did drama with Anne McGuinness in Newtown Forbes. When I was 12, I got involved with Backstage Theatre Youth Group, which led to a big opportunity to be in the National Youth Theatre in 2008. At 16, I was one of 20 young people cast in this massive production of 'Midsummer's Night Dream' at the Abbey Theatre, on the Peacock Stage. This was my first glimpse into the many roles involved in making theatre, beyond onstage roles, and I don’t think I’d ever been as excited by anything. I’d never thought I’d pursue it professionally, but I was determined to make theatre my career after this experience with Youth Theatre Ireland.

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Did you study it as a degree; where did you do it and what is it like?
I have a BA in Drama and Theatre studies degree from Trinity College Dublin. I started at 17, which was probably too young. It was a very academic course and it gave me great context for theatre, and a lot of tools, but it also over-intellectualised everything to the point I came out of college being too afraid to make anything. I’d been a hyperactive member with DU Players, the drama society. In my four years, I’d written and directed four plays with a load of original songs, and performed in as many other plays as they’d let me be in. I lived in that theatre — I was never at home. Creativity and intellectuality are often clashing with one another. Procuring the necessary support to make a professional theatre production can be an overly-intellectualised process. Fresh out of college, I couldn’t hack it.

Fortunately, soon after I graduated, I followed my now-husband to Canada, where I discovered improv comedy — and the whole beauty of improv is that you have no time to criticise it as it’s in real time. This got me back into the swing of it. I went in deep!

Were there any points when you worried about being able to do it for a living?
Ever heard the phrase “a Jack of all trades or a master of none”? Well, that’s just the half of it! Actually, “a Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

I was told that I wouldn’t make money in the arts, so I had absolutely no expectations to make any money in the arts. No one in my circle of friends or family ever went this route, so the fear was that it didn’t seem like a sustainable career. But it’s the same with any freelance gig, actually. That’s what people are truly afraid of, for you. Freelancing. Being self-employed. Uncertainty. But nothing is certain. Beyond working in the arts, I was surprised again by how much you can do with an arts degree, if you’re a good storyteller. You can kind of bend it to your will. If you want to go into corporate, for example, you emphasise your “creative” background and “performance” skills. I’ve never been a full-time actor / theatre maker. At one time, that’s all I wanted to do, but teaching / facilitating turned out to be the making of me as a creator-performer, and vice versa. For me, it feels well-rounded, integrated, and cohesive. It’s terrifying enough to live gig-to-gig — waiting for the phone to ring. There’s very little you can do about that, unless you’re making your own work — and even at that, you’re living in hope that you’ll get any funding to make it happen.

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Are there any achievements that stand out to you?
Last year, we made 'Boss Rob: A Masterclass for Aspiring Artists', which is a show that really brought together everything I’d been doing. It flexed my improv skills, and it was the first project that I’d led, as a theatre maker. It was commissioned by Dublin City Council for ‘Creative Hubs’ performances with Dublin City Libraries. Longford County Council then funded a week-long tour to local schools with Backstage Theatre, for Cruinniú na nÓg, and we went on to present it at IMMA | Irish Museum of Modern Art as part of Dublin Fringe Festival. There, we were nominated for the “Spirit of Wit” award and won a Judges’ Choice Award for ‘innovation in children’s theatre’. After being 10 years in the biz, it was huge to have this experience.
Liam and I just had another run at Dublin Fringe this year with 'He Dies in the End', which we presented as a work-in-progress at Backstage. I was award-nominated for Best Performer, Liam was nominated for the Fishamble New Writing award, and together with our producer Jenni Little and designer Emily Waters, we won the First Fortnight Award.

Do you have any methods to learn so many lines, like ‘He Dies in the End’?
I can only learn by doing. I cannot sit easily with text — it doesn’t go in that way and it never has. It’s funny, because I could improvise a scene now, and I do pretty much the same scene again. But if you handed me a sheet of paper, asked me to read it, took it away, and asked me to repeat it back to you, I couldn’t do it. The text-to-speak thing doesn’t compute easily for me. I have to live in it for a while.

Repetition is the key to learning things off. On this show, I recorded myself reading it, monotone, at a fair pace, and I’d listen back in sections on repeat, while walking the dog, mostly. Then I’d try and say the lines in sync with the recordings, walking the dog. Then I’d just try to run the lines, walking the dog. The poor dog. I don’t have a great attention span, at the best of times, and Banjo isn’t great on prompts, so I’d often forget I was running lines, and end up on other thought trains.

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Would you have any advice for any Longford reader who would like to explore acting as a potential career?
If you love it, chase after it! But don’t limit yourself to being just this one thing. And don’t get too caught up on “making it” — it’s about making the work. It’s not about the roles, stage time, or profile, it’s about the community you build around yourself, and the craic you have collaborating. Prioritise people that bring out the best in you. Pursue projects that challenge and inspire you.

And then, strive to say something through your work, because ‘acting’ can be about entertainment, but you can also inspire people, and you can affect great changes in the world. You do that by approaching your characters with curiosity and compassion. And keep playing!

Trust that whatever your reason may be for playing, and making, and sharing something of yourself in performance, it’s all valid.