It’s not often you see a play that can be recommended without reservation to every reader of hotpress, largely because it captures, to perfection, the emotional complexities of contemporary teenage life. But that’s exactly what Duck does.

Based in part on the experiences of actress-turned-playwright, Stella Feehily when she worked in a Leeson Street night-club called Fanny Hill’s, its lead role is played by 22 year old Ruth Negga, who trained in Trinity College, was wonderful in more recent plays like Lolita and Doldrum Bay and is even better as ‘Cat’ in Duck. And it’s not an easy role to play, by any means, not least because Ruth endures, at various points, a gun being rammed into her mouth, near drowning and having to act in the nude. All of which must be emotionally draining, to say the least.
“It is,” she agrees. “And, a lot of people, at first, asked me how do I approach the nudity in the play. It was difficult at first. And not many actresses do go, ‘Hello! Can I be naked on stage ever night?” But I was made to feel very comfortable by the director, Max Stafford-Clark, so I was able to deal with that. But what amazes me is that so many people are commenting on the fact that I am nude in the play whereas the fact that Tony Rohr is hasn’t even been mentioned by anyone!
“But, apart from all that, the scene of nudity in Duck works in its context. I’m in a bath and I get out and dry myself. But, at the start, I had to ask myself, ‘Is this necessary, why am I doing this?’ But the real point of that scene is where Mark, my boyfriend, does try to drown me. That is the most terrifying scene in the play.”
Ruth Negga also agrees that Feehily created “a wonderfully rounded character” for her to play.
“Cat is a complex character, but she is, as her name suggests, a catalyst in the sense that she doesn’t have to do very much,” Ruth explains. “At least in the sense that, more often than not, other people project on her what they wish her to be. Whether it is Mark or the older man, Jack, she’s having those relationships with. And she fulfils their needs, meaning, she gets what she desires.”
Ruth maintains that she herself is quite unlike her character.
“For example, I didn’t grow up in Dublin, like Cat did,” she explains. “I grew up between London and Limerick, mainly, because my mom was a nurse. My dad died when I was seven. So Cat has a very different outlook on life than I have. For all her bravado and her attitude she’s very insecure, as many people are at 19. She can’t seem to make a decision without men, seems to need to be looked after, obviously didn’t have a very happy home life. So she looks outside the family for security. Whereas I’ve never felt insecure in that sense.”
And, yes, Ruth Negga insists that despite the fact her dad did die when she was seven, she doesn’t feel that she’s ever had to reach beyond the family to find a substitute for paternal love.
“I really don’t think that idea applies if you get enough love from your mother,” she says. “Whereas everyone of us knows there are so many people out there who had two parents and are completely dysfunctional. Relationships in life are not black and white. Everyone has a different situation. And you can’t say that because you come from a two-parent family you are better in any way. I certainly didn’t feel I was lacking when it came to love. But a lot of that is down to my mother.”
For Ruth Negga, Cat is a fascinating character to play. She’s also, as I say, a fascinating character to see Ruth Negga play. But you better hurry, because Duck is being presented at the Peacock for only a month.