INTERVIEW: ‘The Smuggler’ is a rhyming thriller starring Michael Mellamphy
Photo: The Smuggler stars Michael Mellamphy, artistic director of Origin Theatre Company. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by official website.
Michael Mellamphy is no newcomer to the stages of New York City. He has been working hard for years to bring a variety of stories to life, and one of his longest gestating projects is now receiving its time in the spotlight. The Smuggler, written by Ronán Noone and directed by Conor Bagley, is currently enjoying an extended run at the Irish Repertory Theatre’s W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre in Manhattan. Mellamphy stars in the one-person show as Tim Finnegan, an Irish immigrant trying to build a career for himself as a writer in Massachusetts.
The show, which has been acclaimed by critics, is unique in a great number of ways, most profoundly in the dialogue. Mellamphy takes the stage at the Irish Rep night after night and delivers his lines in rhyming verse. That’s quite the feat for an 80-minute production. The story that he brings to life is one of international import, with tensions flaring between newly arrived migrants and local communities in the Northeast, according to press notes. Tim, as a character, tries to chart a professional, satisfying course with his life, but, as the name of the play implies, he’s brought into an illicit trade that dashes his idea of the so-called American Dream.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Mellamphy. When he’s not performing on stage at the Irish Rep, the actor serves as artistic director of Origin Theatre Company, which actually had a hand in the development of The Smuggler. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style and brevity.
How did you get attached to this particular production?
I’ve been involved in this production from the get go. In 2018, my friend and wonderful director David Sullivan reached out to me with The Smuggler by Ronán Noone. I had been aware of Ronán’s work since first seeing his production of The Blowin of Baile Gall at the Irish Arts Center back in 2005/2006. David also directed another of Ronán’s plays in 2013 called The Compass Rose at my old pub, Ryan’s Daughter, where I was also performing The Cure by Cónal Creedon as part of that season’s Origin 1st Irish.
So I was very excited to have the opportunity to work with them both. After reading the script with David, it took me about 5 seconds to say yes to this play. We immediately contacted George Heslin who was the artistic director of Origin at the time, and he was instrumental in helping us get it into Origin 1st Irish 2019. We did a bare-bones run of it at the cell theater on 23rd Street. By bare-bones I mean basically a bar stool, some beer boxes and a suggestion of New England affluence with the costume, and off we went for about eight or nine performances.
The vindication that this was a play of brilliance was in the response of audiences night after night and the fact that it won Origin 1st Irish Best playwright award that year. … [Irish Rep artistic directors] Charlotte Moore and Ciarán O’Reilly had come to see it at the cell. They asked if I’d be interested in a run at the Irish Rep, and we penciled it in for April 2020. Alas, the theater world, along with everything else, came to a screeching halt just before St Patrick’s Day that year, so plans had to be shelved. It really does take an entire village to raise great bloody theater, and I’m so grateful to Charlotte, Ciarán and everyone at the Irish Rep who have stayed the course with their commitment to this play for giving us the opportunity to eventually realize this wonderful production almost three years on.
Is it difficult to perform a piece that’s completely in rhymed verse?
I don’t think it’s any more difficult to perform a play in rhymed verse. After all much of our education as actors is working with rhymes in the classics. Certainly with Shakespeare for instance you have to really use the heartbeat rhythms of his iambic pentameter to really get in touch with the text, and that is also true when it comes to Greek theater, especially with the tragedies, as the iambic verse can really elevate the dramatic in ways that simpler prose just doesn’t.
So approaching this play really felt like a wonderful challenge to get my teeth into. Personally, no matter what I’m rehearsing, I always try to find the poetic and musical beats of the text to help the words sink in, and it also allows me to play with the story. This, I believe, gives more color and range to a piece. So the fact that Ronán constructed The Smuggler in this fashion was more of a blessing than a hindrance. …
It also allows me to revel in taking a massive sledgehammer to the fourth wall and engaging with our audiences. In fact, in performance I don’t see the faces in the crowd as an audience but more so as fellow cast members or even as a co-conspiratorial chorus complicit in Tim Finnegan’s dark evolution. …
[Check out what Hollywood Soapbox wrote about The Smuggler in 2019.]
What are the pros and cons of performing in a solo work?
I love working on solo plays. This is my fourth solo show. There is something akin to being a trapeze artist performing without a net when you take to a stage by your lonesome. Having your own dressing room is definitely a nice perk, but on the other hand, I do miss that camaraderie that naturally develops between cast mates once the play is up and running.
If there are any cons, I suppose it is that there is so much more resting on one’s shoulders when it’s you out there on your own. There is a responsibility on the solo actor to really represent all of the work that goes into a one-person play. At time’s it may be daunting, but more so it’s just thrilling. I also can’t help but take every single commentary a little bit more personally when it’s just me on stage, but that’s part and parcel of this business as a whole and adds a few extra layers to my already fairly thick neck!
I would encourage every young actor starting their journey to embrace solo work. It truly gives you gifts that are unexpected. Even though it is a one-person show, there is a lot going on here that has challenged me and I believe has improved me as an actor. …
Having worked in video games, such as Red Dead Redemption 2, and on numerous network television shows, I am always amazed by the worlds that are created almost out of thin air. The Smuggler similarly conjures a whole world of accents, characters, themes and even touches of the bartender flair folks will remember from the movie Cocktail, all taking place at once by one on stage. …
What do you feel the play says about 2023? There are some serious, weighty issues being discussed.
We are living in a markedly changed world now since Covid-19 arrived on our doorsteps. When I first read the play, one of the elements that really attracted me to it was that it really speaks to issues that I care deeply about. As an immigrant myself, I have always felt that there is a caste system in place depending on where you came from. I’m extremely privileged to happen to be a white immigrant from a country that is so indelibly part of the fabric of the United States. Being an Irish immigrant in New York has afforded me opportunities and opened doors that I know do not exist for many more immigrants from, say, Central America and, by the way, many American-born citizens who continue to be marginalized. There was a deep sense that this play is important to me from the start as I felt it was a great way to really highlight that inequality.
There is a hypocrisy that this play doubles down on. We all want what is best for our families, but the big question is how does one actually achieve that. In a perfect world every one of us would have the means necessary to be successful and provide that wonderful idyllic life for our loved ones regardless of skin color, sexuality or religious persuasion, but that really does not exist. People have to make decisions every day to make sure their families can survive. For many, escaping drug cartels or banana republic dictatorships for a better life, even though it may be considered “illegal” by another country’s standards, is the only way to survive. The fact that so many people are used as political footballs because they choose this path is something that does not rest easy with me. …
I don’t believe the play paints a bleak picture of where we are in 2023. It is really asking questions of audiences every night to look at their attitudes about where we are in a very racially charged and divisive world. Plus it is done in a very entertaining way!
How would you describe Conor Bagley as a director?
It has been a treasure to work with Conor on this. He is a director who loves to roll up his sleeves and get into every single detail — an actor’s dream. We met regularly in the months leading up to rehearsals, and he had a really clear vision of what this play was all about. I was fortunate to have worked with him when he assisted Neil Pepe in Juno and the Paycock as part of the Irish Rep’s O’Casey Cycle in 2019. I remembered thinking how much I would love to work with him. He always brought this wonderful big bag of joy into the rehearsal room. Laughter and fun is so important to me when rehearsing a play. …
My favorite thing in the world is to be locked away in a rehearsal room pulling apart every morsel that a play has to offer. I know that he too loves that process. He listens to every single thing that everyone involved has to say and takes ideas and suggestions on board. Considering we only had a quick rehearsal period of two weeks while I was also in the final planning stages of Origin 1st Irish 2023 — I am the artistic director of Origin also — it is truly a remarkable testament to his ability as a director that he was able to execute such a magnificent production.
It would be remiss of me to also mention his assistant Miss Bailey Bass. Conor brought her on board, and again it says so much about his instincts as she has also proved to be a huge asset to this production. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do in theater, and Conor instinctively understands and embraces that. Plus he is great craic (fun) to be around at all times!
Were you delighted by the extension? I take it people have been responding positively to the piece?
I was absolutely gobsmacked and thrilled to be extended. As many of your readers will know, off-Broadway has been hit particularly hard with the recent pandemic. It is always a struggle even in the best of times to get arses on seats. It is understandable that people are still a little wary about venturing back out after all we have been through. Plus off-Broadway relies on a much smaller catchment of audiences. We don’t get the tourist bump that Broadway does, and the majority of our patrons are generally from a 25-mile radius or so around the tri-state area.
So to see that we were playing to sold-out audiences night after night really made my little Irish heart swell with a lot of pride and joy. It speaks volumes about the love and support that exists for the Irish Repertory Theatre across this city that people are still flocking to see the show night after night. …
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Smuggler, starring Michael Mellamphy, continues its extended run through Sunday, March 12 at the Irish Repertory Theatre’s W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre. Click here for more information and tickets.
