Derry man nominated for Outstanding Actor at the NODA awards

A Derry man has been nominated in the category of Outstanding Actor at the National Operatic Drama Association (NODA) awards.

Kieran Connor received the nomination for his performance as Fagan in the Londonderry Musical Society’s (LMS) production of Oliver.

The 36-year-old can look forward to a trip to Cardiff next summer, which is where the NODA ceremony will take place.

Kieran said: “I’ve been doing these performances for 20 years and these sorts of things don’t come about very often.

“There have been five performers nominated for this award, including myself, so in the summertime I will be off to Wales for the ceremony.

“I was on stage last year in the Millennium Forum performing in Oliver, and I was playing the role of Fagan. 

“NODA, who are the National Operatic Drama Association, were in attendance and adjudicated the performance, and they do this every year, and they saw fit to nominate my performance for outstanding actor in a leading role.”

Kieran fell in love with performing at the age of 16, when he took to the stage in a school performance at Immaculate Conception College.

He fed off the crowd's reaction to his performance and has since been involved in productions yearly.

It is the perfect outlet after a day's work for the owner of McClafferty Funeral Directors.

He said: “It is great to get out of your work clothes, put on comfortable joggers to go to the rehearsal space, and share time with around 40 like-minded people who enjoy this and rehearse for plays or musicals, but at the end of the day we take it seriously too, as people are paying £20-25 a ticket as they are getting that West End standard now. 

“You would have rehearsed for around 12 weeks alongside your work schedule, and then you perform to the paying public.

“We may be amateurs, but we have had for example Vanessa Chapman as the choreographer and she has worked the world over and she is incredibly accomplished and she will push you, I remember going to her studio to rehearse and sweating buckets after four hours practice to match her vision.”

Kieran is currently playing the Beast in the Alley Theatre in Strabane this week and will be part of the LMS production of OKLAHOMA in the Millennium Forum from April 25.