Playing punks and gangsters as a newbie on the acting circuit does wonders for your cool cachet and your casting chances. From good vibrations to violent beatings, Ryan MacParland tells us about Richard Dormer’s new play at The Abbey, Drum Belly.
You got your first break in Irish film, Good Vibrations, which is coming out soon and is about the Belfast punk scene at the time of The Troubles. An ideal break?
Yeh, definitely. Richard Dormer plays the main character called Terri Hooley ‘the godfather of Belfast punk’. It’s about the punk scene in Belfast during the time of the troubles, about how this guy brought Catholics and Protestants together to relish in great punk music through running this record shop. So it’s all about when The Undertones were discovered and Teenage Kicks, and I play a young punk kid called Fangs. But we were up for a few awards, and it seems to have gone well. Also as a Northern Irish man it’s such an uplifting movie and version of Northern Ireland, that it was just great to do.
You’re on The Abbey stage for the first time. It’s an enviable achievement, how did you get here?
I dropped out of school when I was about to do the equivalent of my Leaving Cert. And then I was in The Lyric in Belfast last year, so yeh I’ve been looking got a few breaks. But being in The Abbey is really a bit of a dream, without sounding to cliché and cheesy. I was telling a friend that one of the main things I do is just listen and watch, they’re all amazing actors, some of the best in the country. They’re all so good and have already learnt it all, and their ideas are just worth paying attention to. I don’t know though, it’s hard, I’ve been working steadily and doing work I really want to do. But I’m aware I’ve been lucky, got those breaks.
Drum Belly is a new play. Give us a little taster.
Yeh, it follows the story of second-generation Irish gangsters. The basic plot line is that there has been a truce called between the Irish and the Italian gangsters, but somehow money has been intercepted and a hundred thousand dollars have gone missing. And the boss of the Irish gang, Gulliver Sullivan who is played by Declan Conlon, is going to make whoever it was pay for it with their life. I grew up watching all of those classic gangster movies so it sort of really appealed to me. It’s violent and quite physical, but then it cuts to that classic moment of two men in a diner, just talking, it’s got all of that!
How do you make a story about gangsters appeal to theatre–going audiences?
It’s so well written. Richard Dormer is one of the most mesmerizing actors, and some actors can become amazing playwrights, and he’s just written one of the most exciting scripts. All these characters are double-edged swords, very funny but then of course very violent. The script is just sharp and very witty.
In the blurb and when I’ve asked other people ‘man landing on the moon’ keeps getting mentioned, why is that important?
Well you have this great historical event going on the television at one point, and it was just so incredible at the time, so hard to believe it was happening. But the gangsters are doing business, someone’s getting an aul beating. So something so significant historically get’s overshadowed by violence. It’s like the historical event and the violence are happening at the same time, they’re connected in some way. And Gulliver Sullivan, the head of the Irish gangsters constantly compares himself to JFK, and that’s brilliant too, and it’s there.
Is there a boys-club, changing-room dynamic what with the all-male cast?
No, no, no. Just brilliant.
Drum Belly runs until the 11th May. Tickets available here.
