Abbey Theatre - Amharclann na Mainistreach

Have you ever worked in the Abbey Theatre before?

I played the part of the ‘Postal Clerk’ in The Cherry Orchard in 2004. I had no lines in the script but my character was referred to. The Director of the play, Patrick Mason was good enough to get me a couple of lines by the time we opened. Even though it was a small part, it was great to be in the rehearsal room with the likes of Lorcan Cranitch and Nick Dunning and to see how these, much more experienced actors approach a big Chekhov play.

It’s great to be working on a play in the Abbey Theatre with a good meaty role to get my teeth into!

Tell us about your own role and character?

I play Dromio of Syracuse. He is Antipholus of Syracuse’s slave – not his servant – his slave!!!

Like Antipholous of Syracuse, he is a stranger in the town of Epesus. We are in the fifth week of rehearsals and I think I have him figured out. I can’t tell if he is very obedient or not obedient at all. He seems to get bogged down in detail and he obsesses about the nature of time and I am hoping to get some comedy out of these things. Ciaran O’ Brien is playing the other twin Dromio and he is finding some great physical comedy in rehearsals. I am doing my best to steal all his good bits and at the same time, make my Dromio different.

What do you personally like about The Comedy of Errors?

It’s just great fun. It’s a sitcom! People get confused left, right and centre. Nothing is as it seems; Jason (the director) is really pushing this side of things. At one stage my character Dromio declares, “This is the Fairy Land!” because he is so confused about what is happening. If Jason gets his way, there will be lots and lots of comedy violence – think Chaplin, Tom and Gerry, The Marx Brothers. And it is Shakespeare’s shortest play!!!

What is Jason Byrne like to work with?

I hadn’t worked with Jason before and I am finding his approach very different to what I am used to and I say that in a great way! He is shaking me out of my comfort zone. He is resisting me (and all of us) just going for our first choice and sticking with it. He wants to be constantly surprised in the rehearsal room, and as a result, I think we are managing to surprise ourselves.

He also doesn’t like ‘setting’ things. This means that anything can happen at any time, which makes the rehearsal room very exciting. He has encouraged an ‘anything goes’ attitude to the play and some inspired comedy genius has come out of this approach. And we have all had moments when we have tried something and it has absolutely bombed – but that’s part of the fun!

Overall, it feels that there is a great team on the show (from actors to designers to backstage etc) so hopefully we will have a good show on our hands!