(This photo of Mike was taken during Bernie
Davenport’s last show with him in May 2012)
Tribute to the late Mike Dunleavy from long-time
friend and colleague, Bernie Davenport.
Exited stage left.
Last Player left on his stage but his stage
is far from empty as all parts played in all shows remain on his stage. This
may be the final act but, after his time on the stage of life, the show goes on
in his legacy.
Mike’s passion was theatre all his life,
and he had much joy and many great rewards for it. No, not monetary rewards, it
probably cost him a fortune. His monetary rewards came from his other passion, Aloe
Vera South Africa, set up with his wife Kristina in 1982. It would be another
five years before I would meet Mike.
Mike and Kristina both had a vision of
production of aloes on huge tracts of land in South Africa which would involve
farms owned and run by the local population, selling the aloe leaves to Aloe
Vera SA thereby providing abundant employment and use of this land.
But back to his other passion. Theatre.
Mike was a long-in-the-tooth thespian way before I met him 25 years ago. He was
a seasoned actor, producer and comedian in his own right.
My personal attachment to Mike began with the
Kloof Art & Drama Society (KADS). Mike was a founder of KADS, many years
before I met up with him during a resurrection of the Society. He was a master
of drama in all its forms, producing and taking part in all manner of plays,
shows, dramas, radio dramas, candlelight theatre and music hall. His ability to
take on characters in many accents was huge (he was also fluent in Spanish).
His ability for teaching the Art of Theatre
was abundant, stemming from his love of the art and his past teaching
profession. A taskmaster during rehearsal, a drinking partner afterwards. Which
brings to mind Mike’s famous comedy skit How
to Bake a Christmas Pudding – hilarious!
I loved to rehearse in the Irish style pub at
his and Kristina’s previous home in Kloof and afterwards planning the next Candlelight
Theatre show - and the jokes we would use over a drink or two … or three!
Mike was a warm, caring man who desperately
needed to pass on the skills of theatre. This was evident in his moving all the
KADS props and costumes (after yet another decline) to Kloof High School Drama
Department and renaming it HATS - Hillcrest Amateur Theatrical Society.
This was based in the Drama Department’s
Cage Theatre and Mike gave up a lot of his time assisting students in that
department. I had great pleasure performing in his 90th stage show at this
venue – it was British Comedy starring
One Little Englishman and one Big Little Irishman.
He
will be missed, his impish laugh will be missed … even his tantrums will be
missed!
He has left this stage, the curtain has
fallen, but he is in a place planning the next Big Production where there is
eventually a part for us all. R.I.P Mike – Bernie Davenport
Mike
Dunleavy’s funeral service will take place at the Hillcrest Catholic Church on
Tuesday, February 26, at 11h00.
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