Philadelphia, Here I Come is the story of Gar O’ Donnell who is about to emigrate to America. Set in Donegal in the 1960s it explores father-son relationships and a difficulties of communication. It’s about love and how we articulate love. Or try to and fail to. It returns to the Gaiety theatre this March with a cast of actors who have Friel very much sewn into their theatrical DNA, including Brid Brennan, Barry McGovern and Gerry McSorley. Totally Dublin met Irish Times Theatre Award winning actor Tom Vaughan Lawlor and Ciaran O Brien to discuss Gar’s public & private and their relevance today.
How do you think PHIC stands amongst Friel’s other work? Do you think it’s his best play?
T: I think it’s one of his best plays absolutely. Sometimes you think, that’s my favorite play, and then you go, ‘oh no Faith Healer is my favorite play’ and then you go ‘hold on Translations is my favorite play’ and then you see Lughnasa and the whole thing starts again.
C: It depends what age you are. For me it is probably my favorite Friel because the character is closer to me than in any of his other plays. I think it depends what age you are and where you are in your life.
T: The beauty of his writing is that he plays with form. The whole thing about the divided self was an incredible way of dealing with the inner life of a young man.
Has rising emigration made the play relevant again?
T: I don’t think the play is about emigration. It’s an element of it. Because of the world we live in with Skype and Twitter, communication is easier and connection is easier. There is something insignificant about leaving. But leaving pre-1970 would be more difficult to return than it would be now. It’s about any kind of departure. Your growth physically from a child to a man from life to death. It’s not just a play about emigration.
What’s it like walking into the rehearsal room on the first and having that caliber of cast looking back at you?
C: Well it was great for me; I’m starting out at my career a little bit so it’s great for me to see actors like Tom, and Gerry and Brid Brennan. All these older actors and older heads that have been doing it for years. It’s a great, exciting thing to be involved in.
T: Gerry played Gar Private on the Abbey Stage in 1980 and Ray McNally was Screw Balls and now Gerry is playing Screw Balls and there’s a lovely idea of the generational thing. There are so many parts in Friel that you want to graduate up into, like all great playwrights. But it’s just so well written that sometimes you look around and go ‘I’d love a go at that part later on’.
You’ve worked together before on Arturo Ui and Saved. Do you think this past relationship is important or if it even helps at all when it comes to playing the same person?
T: Oh God yeah, oh Jesus yeah, cause I know Ciaran and we get on well and were both adults and generous and open as actors we are not afraid to try something and fall flat on our face. It’s good to work it that way.
Tom you’ve played Synge, Behan and Friel to an international audience. What’s the difference between them and one at home?
T: Irish audiences aren’t afraid to be involved. Sometimes though if you go to a venue like the Liverpool Everyman you’ll get people who love theatre and go for the fun and really enjoy themselves and they can be the same as Irish audiences.
C: An audience can change from night to night. I did find that a country audience would get more involved with a piece or be warmer to it. But then again when you do shows, every night the reaction is different so it’s tough to say. All audiences are there to enjoy themselves and to be moved
T: There’s context as well. An O’Casey play might be revived better in Dublin cause its about Dublin while a Synge play might be revived very intensely in somewhere like Galway.
Philadelphia, Here I Come runs from the 9th of March to the 10th of April. €35.00 – €50.00
Words Caomhan Keane
