Conor O’Kane

Conor is an actor, director, multidisciplinary artist, facilitator and vocal coach, originally from County Derry in Northern Ireland. He trained for three years at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

As an actor, he has worked extensively in theatre, musical theatre, TV and film locally and internationally. He was Off West End Award-nominated (Best Male in a Musical, 2017) for Miss Nightingale (The Vaults, London); played Fr Tom O’Gara and John Hume respectively in The White Handkerchief and Hume: Beyond Belief - the first two critically acclaimed instalments of the Derry Playhouse’s Peacebuilding Trilogy; starred alongside Siobhan McSweeney in The Freedom of the City (Arts Over Borders' FrielFest); originated the titular role of Chezzie in Oscar-nominee Dave Duggan’s Chezzie’s Chance; and featured in the first national tour and original cast recording of In The Midst of Plenty. He will reprise his role as Fr Tom O’Gara in the remount of The White Handkerchief in January 2026.

Film and TV credits include: Skintown (Cyprus Avenue Films - currently in post-production); Trespasses (Channel 4 / Wildgaze Films) The Talk (Winner of ‘Best In Show’ - Boston Wicked Queer Film Festival & Winner of ‘Audience Award’ - Clones International Film Festival) Death of The Primate (Winner of ‘Best Short’ - Nottingham International Film Festival); 

He is a co-artistic director and co-founder of GOLEM!, a queer, neurodivergent and female led company specialising in repurposing and reimagining original texts. GOLEM!’s genesis began when Conor was programmed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones to create a production for Action To The Word’s site specific Shakespeare Festival, Catford-Upon-Avon in the Broadway Theatre Catford. He sourced the creative team to produce Macbeths, which transferred successfully to The Hope Theatre. GOLEM! has since produced several highly acclaimed plays including I Know You Of Old, (which played at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Dell in Stratford Upon Avon), Tomorrow Creeps (an immersive horror piece developed for London’s Vault Festival), and Is He Earnest? (A time-bending verbatim-based disco-infused story about Oscar Wilde. After initial workshops at the Clapham Omnibus Theatre, this latter piece was developed further at Coventry University, with Conor serving as movement director.)

In 2023 he succeeded Kieran Griffiths as co-director of The Playhouse Music Theatre Company - an incredibly successful initiative commissioned by The Playhouse in Derry to offer free local performance training and an introduction to the professional industry. This work involved the development of a year long programme of training oriented projects and productions through 2023 to 2024.

Other credits as a director/creative include: Playdates Season 4; Frankenstein/Goblin Market/Romeo & Mohammed (Sinew Productions) Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough (Waterloo East Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (The Playhouse); HOLE (Old Red Lion); The Human Voice (The White Bear); KIN (Lion & Unicorn)

Other developmental work includes: A Kept Man (a brand new queer musical by writer and director Matthew Bugg currently in development) and Faust and Maggy (workshopped at the RADA Studios in 2021 with opera director Jonathan Moore); Refuge (a co-production with Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds and Dance East, written by Danusia Iwaszko and women from BSE’s Women’s Refuge).