Page 17 - Irish Examiner USA

artsexaminer 17

Q: Implosions and explo- Pigeon in the Taj Mahal” in ing ensemble now. you would be working together Q: So who else did you
sions described a lot of Irish Irish Examiner USA. CO: Meg Hennessy who’s a 30 years later? nurture? IRISH
plays. CO: Downstairs in the stu- new young actress from CO: No, god no. The fact CO: In our early days we
CO: We also say it’s a come- dio we’re delighted to do shows Limerick, she was in “The that it’s still here and we’re still worked with Brían O’Byrne ,
dy because only four people die that are worthy pieces by Dead” at the Irish Historical going after thirty years is… if I he started with us and did sev- EXAMINER
in this play. Laoisa Sexton. We did “Pigeon Society, which we’ve done that ever think about it I would eral seasons of plays. He’s
in the Taj Mahal” and “For for three years running now. probably think, “Wow!” been a huge success story,
Q: How do you balance Love.” She’s a wonderful play- She came in this year and he’s been in so many movies |
comedy, drama, and musicals wright and we’ve had so many played the role of Lilly then Q: Are there things you still and television shows, won
in this relatively small space? terrific experiences with Marina went right into “Shadow of a plan on doing or wish you Tonys, we love him. June
CO: We don’t ever think of Carr and “Woman and Gunman” and she’s in “Juno could revisit?
it as a small space. It’s the odd- Scarecrow.” Charlotte directed and The Paycock” and “The CO: We’ve revisited a good Q: Were you excited by the 12th,
est thing, why are people a wonderful version of the Plough and the Stars,” so she’s number of shows we enjoyed. I success of “The Ferryman” — 2019
always saying it’s a small space? “Three Small Irish had a year’s work at Irish Rep. directed “The Emperor Jones” did it put a bigger light on
I’ve gone to some really tiny Masterpieces” and that was a 10 years ago and we brought it Irish theater overall?
places and the reviews never lovely show. There was “Riders Q: It really gives people a back again last year with a new CO: I think it was a terrific
say it’s a small space. But for to the Sea” and “Spreading the chance to see how actors oper- Emperor. The first one was production and I love many
some reason they come here News,” I believe. ate. John Douglas Thompson and of the actors in it. It’s a great
and even though it has a depth CO: It’s wonderful, it really he was a force to be reckoned company. I didn’t get a
here that’s as big as the depth of Q: You’ve created an ensem- is. To be able to dive into some- with and wonderful in the role. chance to see the new
some Broadway theaters, it ble without calling it one. You thing and know that in even So it was a great risk to bring it American company, I saw it
does not have the width or see these actors in a lot of differ- one day you have to switch off back with this other Nigerian in Ireland, London and in
wing space, but it’s not a small ent parts in the O’Casey cycle and become someone else, that actor, Obi Abili, who I had just New York for the first contin-
space. Am I being defensive? and over the years. It’s really keeps a lot of the acting muscles met. And without having him gent, but I haven’t see Brian
We have an audience that fascinating to see how they alive and vibrant. read a line I said, “will you do Darcy James do it. I hear he’s
see just about everything we do transform into the roles they it?” fantastic. I’m delighted for
and they’re very loyal. We have have done. Q: How different is your My instincts were right on them all.
to mix it up and give them CO: We’ve got Michael directing style from Charlotte because he was terrific. The
something different each time, Mellamphy, John Keating, and or in picking plays? great thing about doing that Q: What’s in the future for
so we’ll do a new play, a musi- Terry Donnelly. We are really CO: We don’t think of it in show was when it came back you?
cal, a contemporary classic play blessed with a terrific floating that way. I learned an enor- and he really tore up the stage. CO: If you ask one thing I
in the vein of Brian Friel, or company. We started and mous amount from Charlotte Sitting in the audience for think we could use more of,
Conor McPherson, or Marina called ourselves The Irish because Charlotte directed me many, many of the shows was it’d be works we create from
Carr or some living playwrights Repertory Theatre, but 30 years in many things. She just trusts John Douglas Thompson him- scratch. We’d like to do more
that are around even though, later, this is the first time we’re actors a lot and lets them find self and he was the first one to world premieres and commis-
Lord of Mercy on Brian, he’s actually doing repertory with their own way, which I do a lot jump up and cheer and I love sions if we could find the
gone. We’ve built a reputation O’Casey. Those three plays are but I learned that from her. She John for that. He felt like he funding for it. The growth of
on a lot of these given good in rep. It took us 30 years to ful- gives encouragement and really owned that role and I was a theater company is to create
productions of plays that don’t fill our mission, but here we there’s very little negativity worried he’d be a little upset by new work. Even though we
necessarily got a lot of exposure are. from her. Sometimes directors us going ahead without him do very well with bringing
in the United States. think it’s a positive thing too… even though he’s the busiest stuff that’s not normally done,
Q: You have a couple young actor on Broadway and doesn’t it’d be nice to create some-
Q: You also have the little actresses that are in your float- Q: Did you think the two of have time for us anymore. thing that was done here. C
theater downstairs for new tal-
ent and opportunities. How did
you envision the relationship
between the upstairs and
downstairs theater? Is the
downstairs meant to test talent
to bring up stairs later?
CO: It has happened where
people have moved from
downstairs from upstairs, but a
lot of time its on its own merit.
There are shows we do that are
risky shows that may not have a
broader audience but are cer-
tainly very worthy pieces that
would be experimental in their
nature.

Q: Like Enda Walsh’s
“Disco Pigs.”
CO: Well “Disco Pigs”
ended up on the main stage
here. We were originally going
to do it in the studio but we
decided to give it its full and it
worked very well for us up
here. There have been some
Laoisa Sexton plays.

Q: I reviewed her “The Ciarán O Reilly with his artistic partner Charlotte Moore (Brad Balfour)