Kate enjoys playing the tough nut

Date Published: {J}

TG4’s latest comedy series An Crisis has “a madcap humour which might not be to everybody’s taste”, observes Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, who plays Caoimhe in the series.

She’s right. It is quirky. It’s also one of the most entertaining things on TV at the moment, poking fun at so many sacred cows that you wonder how they get away with it.

An Crisis is set in the strange world of An Chomhairle Teanga (ACT), an organisation which promotes the Irish language, but which follows policies that are, to say the least, unconventional.

ACT is headed by Setanta de Paor (Risteard Cooper of Après Match), but nobody – including himself – is quite sure what he does to promote the language. For the duration of the series, he is grappling with government cutbacks, media scrutiny and a Minister for the Gaeltacht who is an old school colleague, but not a friend.

One of Setanta’s office colleagues, Muiris, has spent the past 20 years doing crossword puzzles; a female colleague, Emer brings her four-month-old baby into the office; another spends her day doing yoga and meditating while listening to the death notices on Raidió na Gaeltachta. Basically, this is a civil service department in chaos.

Kate, from Spiddal, plays Caoimhe, a character she describes as “a bit of a weapon” who has been sent in by the Minister to assess if this shambolic department should be shut down.

“She’s not a nice character,” says Kate of Caoimhe. “Definitely not the sort of woman you’d want to be stuck in a lift with. And there’s something a bit fishy going on between her and the Minister – a bit too much admiration there!”

The series also features a talking parrot, named Máirtín Ó Cadhain, who makes his first appearance in the opening episode and who offers the twist in the tale of the final one. This is a parrot who can recite Cré na Cille from start to finish . . . making this one weird series.

“It was shot a year ago – April/May of last year, so I’ve nearly forgotten it,” says Kate. “When you look at yourself now, it’s horrible, because you are your own worst critic.”

Of course, she’s being harsh on herself. She’s excellent in the series although she’s right in saying you wouldn’t want to be stuck in a lift with Caoimhe!

Kate’s love of acting emerged in her youth, nurtured by her parents Pauline and Séamus who encouraged all their four children to get involved in creative arts.

“It’s both my parents fault! My mom was really involved in drama in the community and would have brought us into Druid regularly to see plays.”

They also took classes with speech and drama teacher, Ailbhe Garvey, who was involved with Druid in its early years.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.