INTERVIEW: Irish Rep presents O’Neill’s ‘Touch of the Poet’ as performance on screen
Photo: A Touch of the Poet, featuring Ciaran Byrne, will be presented virtually by the Irish Repertory Theatre. Photo courtesy of Irish Rep / Provided by Matt Ross PR with permission.
With New York City theaters shuttered for an indefinite duration, companies have tried to find ways to deliver content to their audiences during a global pandemic. Along these lines, the Irish Repertory Theatre in Manhattan will present virtual performances of Eugene O’Neill’s classic play A Touch of the Poet. Performances run Oct. 27 to Nov. 1.
Ciarán O’Reilly, co-artistic director of the Irish Rep, directs a cast that consists of Belle Aykroyd, Ciaran Byrne, Robert Cuccioli, Kate Forbes, Mary McCann, Andy Murray, David O’Hara, Tim Ruddy, David Sitler and John C. Vennema. The main character is named Con, and he’s determined to keep his Irish roots a secret to his neighbors in 1828 Boston. This mission runs afoul of his daughter, who falls in love with a wealthy American guest at the family inn.
Byrne plays the character of Dan Roche in the drama, and he recently exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox about his adventures of adapting a classic play for a virtual audience. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What was it like rehearsing and performing via Zoom?
It was bananas fun rehearsing and performing A Touch of the Poet via Zoom.
What first attracted you to this role and this iconic play?
I had actually auditioned for a different role in the play, and our superhero director Ciarán O’Reilly asked me how I’d feel about the possibility of my playing Dan Roche instead. Ciarán himself had actually played Roche in the Broadway production some years earlier alongside Gabriel Byrne, and so I felt that what’s good for one Ciarán is plenty good for the other. Seriously though, I do know how personal the character of Dan Roche is to Ciarán, and so to receive such a consideration, and accept the baton from the man who kickstarted my career, was both an honor and a compliment in the highest form.
Is performing Eugene O’Neill difficult from an actor’s perspective?
Performing a Eugene O’Neill play is just like performing any other. Every play presents its own unique challenge for the actor. It’s our job to meet and exceed that challenge. So Mr. O’Neill to me is no less or more difficult than any other playwright. Just different. Quite frankly it bores me profoundly if a fellow actor chooses to speak of the difficulties of performing, whatever they might appear to be. We are not tarring roads or building skyscrapers. This is not hard work. Eugene O’Neill, like all others, is a PLAYwright, not a WORKwright. He created a beautiful piece of art for us to PLAY with, not WORK with. We are artists. We make art, and we count our blessings to be those that get to do so. Of course like all great art, sometimes it sparks a reaction, or hits a nerve, and we might even hit several roadblocks during its creation. But it is not ever hard work or difficult.
How much has COVID-19 disrupted your professional life?
I think it’s pretty widely evident that the pandemic has brought us all to our knees, irrespective of our position, vocation or profession. Though in doing so it has forced and/or inspired us to reset, dig deeper, and imagine new ways to create and get things done. Art is still art, and artists are still artists.
Do you feel that live theater will ever be the same?
No, I don’t believe theater will ever be the same. What theater was died along with our world that was on March 16. What I do believe is that from this wreckage a new theater will emerge, a theater that we could not have envisioned at the beginning of the year. It is my firm belief that the best of theater, a theater like never before, is on its way.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Eugene O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet will be presented as a performance on screen Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 by the Irish Repertory Theatre. Click here for more information and tickets.
