Courtenay Love

Can you imagine a father and son falling in love with the same woman and being in competition for her attentions?

Bono obviously could. That was the subtext of the version of ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ that he performed with Sinatra, though of course he never dared to tell Ol Blue Eyes that, fearing he’d lose far more than his sunglasses! Strangely enough the same theme turns up in Brian Friel’s latest play The Home Place where the father in question is noted British actor and author Tom Courtenay, best known for his roles in seminal early ’60s British New Wave movies such as Billy Liar, with more recent credits including The Dresser, plus a one man show about Philip Larkin.
So who wins the battle? Tom ain’t saying, knowing that would ruin the play for many viewers. But he does stress that this is “the more private aspect” of The Home Place, which is set in the Ireland of 1878 during the era of unrest at the dawn of Home Rule.
“But the more public area – and more public source of tension between the father and son – is that in the play my cousin, an anthropologist, has come over from England and wants to do a study on locals,” he explains, “and this, to me, seems harmless enough, but to the son it’s not acceptable because there has been trouble and even a murder of a nasty landowner.
“So the father and son are in conflict over that and the whole subject is so artfully written and presented by Brian Friel. And the planter is made realise his position is untenable which applies not only to Ireland but also to places like Russia and Palestine where people nonetheless still will say ‘this is my home.’ “
But what about that sexual rivalry between father and son?
“My wife, Lucy, is dead so the father and son are in love with the housekeeper, who is an Irish woman,” Courtenay responds. “But it’s not really a strong sexual rivalry because she, obviously, is drawn towards the younger one in that sense. But the father has his charms and is probably more charismatic. In fact, the son, in many ways, is hopeless though he knows something the father doesn’t know. But he’s not a powerhouse, as the father is, so there are all those tensions along those lines too.”
Listening to Tom Courtenay enthuse so warmly about Friel’s work – and having read his memoir – one wonders if the 67 year old still gets the same gratification from acting he first got while appearing in plays such as Chekov’s The Seagull more than forty years ago.
“At the moment, no,” he answers frankly. “Because we are only in rehearsal and I haven’t been in a play for three years, since Uncle Vanya. Though there is a connection because Vanya is not someone you would call a winner! Neither was Constantin! And, to tell you the truth, my favourite moment during the run of a play is when the curtain comes down each night and I know we’ve made it. But it helps to be in a work by one of the great masters of modern theatre, which is what Friel is. You can tell he’s been writing all his life.”
Tellingly, having acted all his life Tom Courtenay admits that he himself “didn’t always make the right choices” and that unlike, say, his peer Albert Finney, he never “really earned great money.” He also says that his success as an author may lead him more in that direction and away from acting.
“The book was so well received that I am being asked to do a second memoir,” he reveals. “But I’m not sure what shape it would take. I like writing funny. I’ve no problem looking at the dark side of things but I always seek out the humour. In fact, someone who read my book said I had a way – which I hadn’t noticed – of ending chapters or sections with a funny punch line. As if it was an exit line on stage. And despite the dark subject matter at the heart of The Home Place I’ve noticed that Brian Friel does that too.”

The Home Place opens at the Gate Theatre on February 1.