Charlene Craig filled Donegal Woman in on establishing her own theatre company, and gave us a sneak peek of her exciting new production 'End Of.'

Charlene has been living and working in Dublin since 2012 after attending drama school in London.

“I trained at LAMDA in London and had an incredible experience there. The quality of the teaching was second-to-none, and I had the opportunity, over two years, to hone my skills there. Getting into that school was a dream come true.

“I have to say, that one of the most nourishing roles I have ever played is the one I am currently doing, Siobhán in ‘End Of.’ in the Dublin Fringe Festival.”

She says that establishing her own theatre company allows her to take the reigns of her career as an actress, and after working with a friend on his production, they immediately began planning ‘End Of.’

“Setting up my own theatre company was always something I had in the back of my mind. It takes a lot of work and a lot of energy to make it happen, so I had to wait for the right time.

“I love it because sometimes as an actor you can feel quite powerless in your career, your destiny is often in other people’s hands and you spend a lot of time waiting for the phone to ring, but running my own company means I have control over my own career and my own path.

“My good friend, Seanan McDonnell wrote a fantastic play called REVOLVER. As soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to make it happen and that was when Sugar Coat Theatre was born. I produced and acted in the play and we had a successful run in Dublin last year. We started working on End Of. almost immediately!

“To be honest, I have been surprised by how quickly Sugar Coat Theatre has grown. From our first production last year, it has grown quickly to receive Arts Council funding, and to have a show that was listed in The Irish Times and The Irish Independent as one of the top picks of the Dublin Fringe Festival and is selling out every night! It’s hard to take it all in but I am very grateful and enjoying every second.

Charlene plays Siobhán in ‘End Of.’, a character we see morph from meek to confident throughout the course of the play.

“I love playing the role of Siobhán. She’s a really interesting and dynamic character. ‘End Of.’ is also written by Seanan McDonnell and he writes fantastic roles for women.

“I love how her story changes through the play; at the beginning she gets pushed around by her male colleague and best friend, but as the play progresses we get to see her being a strong woman, and standing up for herself and her beliefs.

“There was a lot of preparation involved in every aspect of this production, and the magic was no different. I started working on ‘End Of.’ in January.

“This is the first time I have produced a play as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival. There are over 80 shows so it’s a challenge to make yours stand out, and get people to buy tickets for your show when there is so much on offer.

“I think the fact that we have magic in our show has intrigued people.

“‘End Of.’ is a comedy about the first hour of the Apocalypse, we worked with a magician in rehearsal to help us achieve the effects of the world coming apart over the hour of the play, and I think it’s really effective.

“Every night that I have friends in I get endless questions about it, but I have been sworn to secrecy and cannot reveal the magical illusions!”

‘End Of. runs until Sept 24th (excluding 22nd ) at the Gutter Bookshop in Temple Bar. For more information go to http://fringefest.com/festival/whats-on/end-of

To keep up to date with Sugar Coat Theatre you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.