Damian Punch, the man behind Cork Ghost Tour, shares how we found his dream job performing on the streets of Cork
Damian Punch is a man who knows all about fear – in many ways, he’s made a living out of it.
As the mastermind behind Cork Ghost Tour, the hit street theatre experience that’s been bringing both fright and delight to the streets of the city since 2015, he’s highly regarded for his ability to spook even the steeliest of characters.
Despite knowing all there is to know about the sensation, however, Damian is rather immune to fear himself – or he is, at least, when it comes to the existential matters that most people seem to be terrified of.
“It’s a small problem I have with the world,” he laughs. “Everybody seems to be scared of any unknown in their lives, especially in their future – they want to have a clear picture of what comes next in their careers and so on. I don’t think like that! If I look too far into the future, and there’s no mystery to what’s coming, life would feel like a prison almost.
“Sometimes I couldn’t even tell you what I’ll definitely be doing next month; I could be on a shoot for Netflix, doing tours around Cork, or doing rehearsals for a Christmas gig. There’s a lot of randomness to what I do, and I really enjoy the adventure of that, how my work keeps changing and shifting into new challenges.”
A career full of randomness was in many ways written in the stars for Damian – after all, it was through sheer randomness that he stumbled upon his true passion in life: performing!
“I suppose my career path has had some unexpected turns over the years – I actually originally got a degree in Construction Economics,” he reveals. “When I left school, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I had some family members who were working in construction and had done fairly well for themselves, so I felt encouraged to try that. I started with just the certificate course and then it morphed into a degree, but looking back I don’t think I was ever really cut out for it. I’m not sure I was cut out for anything at that age to be honest!
“By the time I graduated I had one job interview and I remember just looking at the man across the desk from me; he knew I shouldn’t be there, and I knew I shouldn’t be there. And so that was the first and last job interview I ever did for construction economics! It was a sidetrack for a while, but I really didn’t know what I wanted from life.”
The moment he finally did figure out what he wanted is one that stands out very distinctly in Damian’s mind – largely because he very nearly missed out on it.
“It all clicked for me during a drama class in my 20s, though how I ended up there was completely random,” he remembers. “I was working as an organic gardener at the time, which I really enjoyed, and as part of my work I went to Kinsale to do a permaculture course. I’d met the course tutor and found it all very interesting, but I was also keeping an open mind about what else I could learn while I was at the college. This was the early days of those [FET] courses; they were much looser, two or three days a week and you could shift around a bit more. So about a month in, I wandered upstairs to see what was going on up there and I saw they were doing acting lessons, and so I decided to sit in on a class.”
The rest, as they say, is history……..
“I laughed so much and I enjoyed myself so much during that class – I remember thinking ‘this is it, I’ve found it, this is my thing’. It really wasn’t planned, I just found myself in that room laughing and I knew right then that acting, improv, was for me. I was travelling back to Cork city from Kinsale that evening on cloud nine. And so I’ve continued in that vein ever since then.
“I realised very quickly how much I enjoy performing for people and telling them stories, so I just kept finding new ways to do that. I spent a good while working for a wine company in Cork, guiding ‘tapas trails’ around the city and introducing them to all the lovely food and wine around the place. I fell in love with that form of performance, not having a fourth wall. I loved that I could speak directly to people, to the audience, and get to know them. So I thought, how do I get into doing more stuff like this? And that’s really how the idea of Cork Ghost Tour came about. I began researching and putting the tour together and eventually, with the help of colleagues and friends, we pulled it off together.”
That was all the way back in 2015 – nearly a decade on is his love for the business still holding up?
“Oh definitely – what keeps me interested is simple, it’s meeting people,” he explains. “You never know who’ll be in front of you on each tour; and there’s even more of an unpredictable element because it’s out on the streets as well. You see good and bad things on the street, you never what challenges or opportunities are going to arise. It keeps me on my toes, staying alert to every moment as it happens, and being aware of the people I’m performing for – and any other people around us!
“People don’t realise that when they’re watching you [as a performer], you’re also watching them. They’re being entertained, so they’re very relaxed and unguarded but I’m always matching their energy and responding to them. Each night of the tours, a lot of the same things happen, but there are also a lot of subtle little interactions unique to that audience, to that tour. Those new stories and bounces and changes, it keeps me very alive.”
Damian’s only regret is that he didn’t pursue a career in acting sooner; that he spent most of his early adulthood feeling lost whilst trying other jobs. However, having a few years’ more life experience under his belt before becoming an actor has also helped him in many ways.
“I don’t want to discount youth, but I certainly think being in my 30s when I was starting out helped me. When I was younger I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do it, to step out there on the street and launch forward with a performance. I don’t think I trusted my instincts at all in my 20s, and to be honest I’m not sure if they were even trustworthy! But that’s just me, my confidence grew with time, there are plenty of great young actors out there too. Age has helped me, though, and with every year that I perform there’s a little bit more growth.”
With both Damian and the tour itself only getting better with each passing year, there’s no better time than the present to experience Cork Ghost Tour.
“Cork Ghost Tour is fun, entertaining and never what you think it might be like! We explore Cork’s grim, dark history but there are also lots of comic aspects, and surprises and theatricality. My colleague, ‘the other ghost’ will pop up at certain surprising moments, so our audience should always beware! There’s something for everybody, young and old, and we can switch the tour to suit anyone as well, except maybe very little ones! We always adapt to the audience in front of us, we keep it very alive, very personable and very real.”
Find out more at corkghosttour.ie
