Happy returns

Actor Michael Donegan sure is taking on one hell of a challenge for his directorial debut, particularly when you consider that the play is being staged by a newly formed theatre company. Even if their last production of Frank McGuinness’s Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me in October 2003 was described by at least one critic as the best that had ever been staged in Ireland, this time the Terrible Beauty Theatre Company is taking on the even more demanding prospect of Pinter’s first great play The Birthday Party. How did this production come about?

“During the run of Someone Who’ll Watch over Me our director Paul Kealyn asked if we’d any ideas for the next production” responds Donegan. “I hadn’t tried my hand at direction, so I suggested Pinter and this particular play, which hasn’t been performed in Ireland for at least ten years. Fortunately, the guys liked the idea. Now, I know Pinter divides people right down the middle, some love him and some hate him, but I happen to love his work because he’s a very text-driven writer. And, even as an actor, I’m attracted to text-driven plays. But my main reason for wanting to do The Birthday Party is because the guy’s work is, as I say, so rarely done in Ireland. And to me he’s a genius.”
Part of the genius of Pinter, Donegan suggests, is that the playwright penned The Birthday Party in 1958, but unlike ‘Angry Young Men’ plays in British theatre at that time, it isn’t locked into any particular time frame.
“In fact, the text says, ‘it’s set in the present day’ and there is no reference in the play to anything that places the work in a particular period, such as the late ’50s,” Michael enthuses. “So we set it today. He was a visionary. But there are those who hate his work. Maybe because he doesn’t answer any questions”
Neither do U2 anymore! Indeed, Bono admits the group started out with all the answers because of their religious conviction, yet they now prefer to pose questions. All of which ties in with contemporary trends in philosophy, and very much makes Pinter a playwright for the 21th century.
“That is how I see it” says Donegan. “Pinter puts his characters into a situation and let’s people decide for themselves. And the best thing about Pinter is that you can’t get his work out of your mind. Hours after seeing a production you are still asking yourself what it is all about. You can see he was influenced by the writings of Kafka and Beckett, even if their works are more dream like. Pinter, instead, puts his dream like stuff into everyday situations and that’s what makes it so unique. That’s why I really do think The Birthday Party is a terrific play.”
Micheal, who has appeared in “everything from Tennessee Williams to Eugene O’ Neill to a brand new work by Pearse Lehane,” claims he is well-served by the “superb cast” of six in this production, which includes Steve Curren, Marie McNamara, Shane Gadely and Vanessa Keogh.
“They are a magnificent bunch of actors” he says, speaking from the vantage point of final rehearsals before the play opens. “And I really think they will be hitting a crescendo in time for the opening.”
As things stand, the play is booked into Andrew’s Lane for only two weeks and it’s future depends on the success, or otherwise, of this residency. If it sells-out then the Terrible Beauty Theatre Company – which is non-subsidised and backed by the actor’s own money – will tour the production, if not, let’s wait and see.
Either way, Michael Donegan sees The Birthday Party as “totally different from” Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, and promises that the company’s third production will be “totally different again. But, overall, we are looking at the bigger picture,” he concludes, “which is why we want to build up a body of work that is known to be diverse. And brave.” b

The Birthday Party will run at Andrew’s Lane Theatre from
March 8-23.