INTERVIEW: Jim Culleton directs Sebastian Barry play at 59E59
Photo: On Blueberry Hill, a new play by Sebastian Barry, stars Niall Buggy. The production comes thanks to Fishamble: A New Play Company. Photo courtesy of Patrick Redmond / Provided by Karen Greco PR with permission.
Fishamble: A New Play Company is one of the strongest, most inventive theater companies in Ireland. Their productions that jump across the Pond have been met with critical acclaim, especially Forgotten, which played New York City’s Irish Arts Center; Charolais, which played the Irish Repertory Theatre; and The Pride of Parnell Street, which played 59E59 Theaters.
Now Fishamble is back with a production of Sebastian Barry’s latest play, On Blueberry Hill. Playing as part of Origin’s 1st Irish Festival, the play continues performances through Feb. 3 at 59E59.
Niall Buggy (St. Ann’s Warehouse’s Penelope) and David Ganly (London’s Girl From a North Country) play two prisoners who converse on matters both devastating and emotional: murder, forgiveness, friendship, survival and love.
Barry is a world-renowned writer who is currently the Laureate of Irish Fiction. His director is the accomplished Jim Culleton, who brought The Pride of Parnell Street to 59E59 previously. The show premiered at Dublin Theatre Festival in 2017, and after New York City, it will tour Ireland.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Culleton about On Blueberry Hill. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What did you like after you read Sebastian Barry’s play for the first time?
I directed Sebastian’s play The Pride of Parnell Street, also for Fishamble, and this production was also part of 1st Irish at 59E59 Theaters in 2009. Over the following decade, Sebastian and I exchanged thoughts about On Blueberry Hill, and he sent me short sections and ideas from time to time. Then the full play arrived a couple of years ago, and that was an exciting moment!
I loved the beautiful writing (of course!) by Sebastian, who is currently Ireland’s Laureate for Fiction. I also loved the sense of humanity about the play, and the love and redemption at its center. The play is about two men who have committed terrible crimes, sharing a cell and becoming unlikely friends. Sebastian once commented that the characters have their feet in acid, and the play’s purpose is to put crowns on their heads. I suppose that’s it really, getting to love two people we might have crossed the road to avoid before we knew them! And I loved how funny the play is, too, as well as heartbreakingly sad.
What has it been like working with Niall Buggy and David Ganly?
Fabulous! Niall and David are two of Ireland’s top actors and are a pleasure to work with. They have performed on Broadway and the West End, but are equally at home in a beautiful intimate theatre like 59E59. They give very truthful, emotionally engaged performances and have audiences enthralled! I think audiences in New York are in for a treat.
Were the characterizations and themes of the play immediate on paper, or did you need time in the rehearsal room to see how it all would emerge from the text?
The play is about the characters trying to find the right words to tell their stories. So the text does say it all. Having said that, we first produced the play at the end of 2017 in Ireland and Paris and even in a prison for an audience of prisoners. Then, for this revival, when we were re-rehearsing, we made a lot of new discoveries about the play and the characters’ relationships. That is the way with a play that is so rich and complex, I suppose, you can revisit it and get something else from it each time.
Did anything change from its premiere in Ireland to this premiere in New York City?
We haven’t made any changes for this run. This will be Fishamble’s 12th production to transfer to NYC in the past decade, since Sebastian’s last play. It’s our fifth time in 59E59, and seventh as part of 1st Irish. Once, on a previous visit, we changed some local references in a play, but felt we lost some of the authenticity, so removed the changes. This time, we don’t plan to make any changes. We’d rather present a truthful production, even if some references are lost. And New York audiences are sophisticated, so I think they appreciate the ‘real thing,’ too. The audience lets you know though, so we are looking forward to performing it for audiences in NYC and then seeing if anything needs to change based on their responses.
What sets Fishamble apart from other theater companies?
Fishamble is the only company in Ireland dedicated exclusively to new plays and the only Irish company to win an Olivier Award. As well as producing and touring our work, we run many development initiatives that support the writers of 60 percent of all new plays produced in Ireland. On Blueberry Hill is our 12th production in New York, all supported by Culture Ireland, so we are a prolific company, proud of making connections between Irish artists and audiences all over the world.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
On Blueberry Hill is currently playing 59E59 Theaters in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
