Pádraig Cusack (; born 16 March 1962) is an Irish theatre producer who has worked with the National Theatre of Great Britain, the Abbey Theatre Dublin, the NCPA Mumbai and numerous international festivals.

Personal life

The youngest son of the Irish actor

Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland's finest thespians, and was renowned for his inte ...

and actress

Maureen Cusack Maureen Cusack (24 November 1920 – 18 December 1977) was an Irish actress. She was born in 1920 in Glenties, County Donegal, Ireland as Mary Margaret Kiely. She was married to Irish actor Cyril Cusack and they had five children Sinéad, Sorc ...

, he is the brother of actresses

Niamh Cusack Niamh Cusack ( ; born 20 October 1959) is an Irish actress. Born into a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and other prominent theatre ens ...

Sinéad Cusack Sinéad Moira Cusack ( ; born 18 February 1948) is an Irish actress. Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before moving to London in 1969 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has won the Critics' Circle and ''Eve ...

and

Sorcha Cusack Sorcha Cusack (; born 9 April 1949) is an Irish television and stage actress. Her numerous television credits include playing the title role in ''Jane Eyre'' (1973), '' Casualty'' (1994–1997), ''Coronation Street'' (2008) and '' Father Brown' ...

, and half-brother of

Catherine Cusack Catherine Cusack (born 21 December 1968) is a British actress. She is best known for portraying Nanny Carmel Finnan in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' in 1992 and 1993. Early life and career Cusack was born on 21 Decem ...

. He has one brother, Paul Cusack (a retired television producer). He is married and has two daughters, Megan, an actress, who in 2020 joined the leading cast in the Netflix/BBC popular series '' Call the Midwife'' in the recurring role of Nurse Nancy Corrigan, and Kitty, a psychology graduate. Two of his nephews are also actors,

Max Irons Maximilian Paul Diarmuid Irons (born 17 October 1985) is an English and Irish actor. He is known for his roles in films such as ''Red Riding Hood (2011 film), Red Riding Hood'' (2011), ''The White Queen (miniseries), The White Queen'' (2013), '' ...

and

Calam Lynch Calam Finbar Lynch (born 7 November 1994) is a British actor. His films include the Disney adaptation of '' Black Beauty'' (2020) and Terence Davies' ''Benediction'' (2021). On television, he appeared in the BBC One drama '' Mrs Wilson'' (2018) ...

. He lives in West Cork, Ireland.

Education

Cusack was educated bi-lingually in Irish and English, initially at

Scoil Lorcáin Monkstown (), historically known as ''Carrickbrennan'' (), is a suburb on the southside of Dublin, Ireland, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is on the coast, between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire while also bordering Sallynoggin and Dea ...

Monkstown, County Dublin Monkstown (), historically known as ''Carrickbrennan'' (), is a suburb on the southside, Dublin, southside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is on the coast, between Blackrock, Dublin, Blackrock an ...

, and subsequently at

Coláiste Eoin Coláiste Eoin is a Catholic voluntary Gaelcholáiste (Irish language scondary school) for boys, under the trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, in Booterstown, County Dublin, Ireland. It has hurling and Gaelic football teams, traditio ...

Booterstown Booterstown () is a coastal suburb of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is also a townland and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in the modern county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is situated about south of Dublin ...

, County Dublin. Pádraig was a Taylor Exhibition music scholar at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, before winning a scholarship to train at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

to be a professional cellist. In 1995, he returned to education to take a post-graduate degree in business at

University College, Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Colleges located in B ...

Career

Having begun his career as a freelance musician, playing with the

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

and English National Opera North, an accident ended his career as a musician, resulting in him pursuing a career in arts administration. Initially he focused on the classical music sector, working at two leading concert venues in London, the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

and the Southbank Centre. In 1992 he made his first move into theatre following his appointment as administrative director of

West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1990 in the Quarry Hill area of the city as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, successor to the original Leeds Playhouse, and was rebranded in June 2018 ...

in Leeds, alongside Jude Kelly where he produced a number of plays including the touring production of ''Five Guys Named Moe'' for

Cameron Mackintosh Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "t ...

Limited. In 1996, he was appointed Head of Planning of the

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

under the outgoing artistic director, Sir Richard Eyre and subsequently with Sir Trevor Nunn and Sir

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner ( ; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', '' ...

. In 2009 he became the National Theatre's Associate Producer. During this period he produced numerous productions for tour both in the UK and internationally, taking the work of the National Theatre to five continents. Alongside this, he has worked as a touring consultant for the

Abbey Theatre The Abbey Theatre (), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland () is a theatre in Dublin, Ireland. First opening to the public on 27 December 1904, and moved from its original building after a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the p ...

in Dublin, the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

, London, Fiery Angel in London's West End, Canadian Stage in Toronto,

Bangarra Dance Theatre Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-bor ...

in Sydney, TheEmergencyRoom and

Corn Exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

in Dublin and

Galway International Arts Festival The Galway International Arts Festival (GIAF), founded in 1978, is a cultural organisation that produces an annual arts festival in Galway, Ireland. It also produces new work that tours nationally and internationally, in addition to presenting ...

. In June 2016, he was appointed Executive Producer of

Wales Millennium Centre Wales Millennium Centre () is Wales' national arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on ...

in Cardiff. In addition to this, he is Consultant Producer to the

National Centre for the Performing Arts (India) National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

in Mumbai. As well as his theatre producing work, Cusack offers representation to a number of Irish artists including the director Annie Ryan, the composer Mel Mercier and the British playwright Matt Wilkinson. In 2023, Cusack was the recipient of the Olwen Wymark Award from the

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The u ...

for his championing of new writing which was presented at the 18th Annual Awards Ceremony in London.

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), ''Don't Fool wi ...

launched his own theatre company, Welsh National Theatre, in January 2025 and in April, Cusack was announced as Executive Producerhttps://www.whatsonstage.com/news/welsh-national-theatre-to-stage-new-play-owain-and-henry-with-michael-sheen_1672047/ for the company's inaugural productions, ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a three-act play written by American playwright Thornton Wilder in 1938. Described by Edward Albee as "the greatest American play ever written", it presents the fictional American town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 ...

'' by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'', and a U. ...

, a co-production with the

Rose Theatre The Rose was an Elizabethan playhouse, built by theatre entrepreneur Philip Henslowe in 1587. It was the fifth public playhouse to be built in London, after the Red Lion in Whitechapel (1567), The Theatre (1576) and the Curtain (1577), both i ...

in Kingston and ''Owain & Henr'' by Gary Owen, a co-production with

Selected dramatography - international touring

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cusack, Pádraig 1962 births Living people Irish theatre managers and producers People from County Dublin People from Dalkey Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Padraig People educated at Coláiste Eoin