meet Our Team

PEADAR DONOHOE – Artistic Director & Performer

Peadar is well known for his versions of Shakespeare’s plays: “The Shakespeare Sessions” which are abridged versions with new material that break the fourth wall and invite learner interaction, participation and discussion while making the work accessible and thought provoking. He also directs and writes Cyclone’s Bullying Prevention Session which tours to schools nationwide. He is a Drama coach and director for CIT Cork School Music. His research in anti-bullying initiatives for Primary and Secondary schools has been highly successful and numerous articles can be found on ResearchGate. Peadar has been an invited speaker at conferences, and has delivered lectures and workshops in numerous academic and professional institutions.

MARCUS BALE – LEAD Performer

Marcus trained in Buenos Aires for 7 years in different Actors’ Studios. He studied all over the world Improvisation, Clown, Mime, Physical, Mask and Anthropological Theatre. He has performed, devised and directed in Ireland and abroad more than 70 plays ranging from Shakespeare to Clown. For 15 years he has taught in Ireland, Germany, Italy, Canada & Argentina Improvisation, Clowning, Commedia and the Techniques of Grotowski, LeCoq & Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, always focusing on physical aspects of Theatre. Since 2006 he divides his time between performing Shakespeare with Cyclone Rep, being a core member of Snatch Comedy Improv, doing Freelance Performance and Direction and being a husband and father of two VERY energetic boys!    

AOIFE CLARKE - Stage Manager

Aoife is a Freelance Stage Manager & founding member of Wandering Star Theatre Company with whom she produced Lex Talionis (A Tale of Vengeance & Feathers ) by Liam Heylin, Bedbound (Enda Walsh) & Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). SM credits include: How It Is: Part 2 (Gare St. Lazare), The Same (Corcadorca) , The Bluffer's Guide To Suburbia (Raymond Scannell), The Lonesome West (The Everyman), In Clouds (Peter Power), Punk Rock (Granary Theatre), NEON Western (Conflicted Theatre), Dancing At Lughnasa (The Everyman), American Idiot: The Musical (CIT Musical Society), Debris (Wandering Star) & God Bless The Child (PTP). Aoife holds a BA in Drama & Theatre Studies (UCC) and an ALCM(TD) (London College).

KIERAN O’LEARY – Performer

Kieran has been involved in the theatre in Cork city and county for 25 years. He is the current chairperson of The Cork Shakespearean Company, “The Loft”, where he has been a member for over 20 years, both directing and performing in the majority of their productions. He is a two-time winner of the “Fiona Shaw Shakespeare Perpetual Cup” in the Feis Maitiu, Cork in 2010 and 2012. Joining Cyclone Rep in 2017, he is now playing multiple roles in all 4 productions this year and looking forward to bringing the Shakespeare Sessions to the students all over the country.

LEAH WOOD – Performer

Beginning her love of performing at age 8, Leah is experienced in drama - performing both the roles of Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’ on multiple occasions – as well as comedy – exemplified in her roles as Tranio in the Cork Shakespearean Company’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and her turns in Cork’s Adult Panto in 2017 as Mozzarella, one of Cinderella’s Ugly Step-Sisters, and in 2018 as Flip-Flop, a slightly unhinged fairy. Leah has also appeared in a number of music videos and short films and when she’s not acting enjoys writing her own screenplays.

ROISIN McATAMNEY – Performer

Róisín is an actor & theatre maker based in Dublin. Originally from Cork, Róisín undertook a BA in Drama Performance from DIT’s Conservatory of Music and Drama. Upon graduating from DIT she worked in New York on off- Broadway show Ten Ways on A Gun. Theatre credits include Antigone, Romeo & Juliet, Dracula and Smashing Times’ International tour of The Woman is Present: Women’s Stories of World War II with writing from renowned Deirdre Kinahan. Last year Roisín devised & performed in the collaborative piece How Far, Antigone? with Theaterlabor and Smashing Times which premiered at the International Festival Crisis, Trauma, Hope, in Bielefeld Germany. She is currently performing in Cyclone Rep’s Shakespeare Sessions as well as The Bullying Prevention Sessions.

STEPHEN O’DRISCOLL -Performer

Touring with Cyclone for his second year, Stephen is reprising his roles in 'The Merchant Session' and 'The Romeo and Juliet Session'. This year he also joins 'The King Lear Session' and 'The Bullying Prevention Session'. Stephen attended the Wolfe Stage School where drama became his passion. He graduated from The University of Sunderland with a BA Hons in 'Acting and Media Production' in 2018. Stephen has played a diverse range of roles with many different organisations Including the Northumbria Police’s ‘Modern Day Slavery Project’ and 'The Bystander Project’, an anti-discrimination film project. He is an alumni of Helium Arts’ ‘Two Suitcases Film Project’ with showings and awards internationally

MILLIE DOYLE - PERFORMER

Millie is an actor based in Cork City.  Recent work includes Millie Clown in Clown College (Pollard, July 2019), Girl in Nothing (Pollard, May 2018), Clara Bow in After You Get What You Want, You Don’t Want It Anymore (Hutt, July 2017, April/November 2016). Mother in Law in Blood Wedding (Crowley, January 2017), touring with Fortune’s Fool Productions’ Measure for Measure (Courtney, July/August 2016), and Clover in Animal Farm (Gallagher, April 2016). Millie holds a BA in Theatre and Drama Studies from CIT Cork School of Music. She has studied Clown with Simon Thompson as part of the Belltable Connect Masterclass series, and with Raymond Keane as part of the Lir Academy Summer Programme. As part of her degree she has trained with Linklater certified teacher Regina Crowley.