Hit and myth

It’s a long way from the Dublin Youth Theatre in 1987 to the Olympia Theatre in 2002. Yet that’s the distance Eanna Mac Liam has walked, on and off, with Passion Machine. Fifteen years ago he was taking part in Paul Mercier’s musical Brothers And Sisters and now he’s playing the male lead in the latest Passion Machine production Diarmuid And Gráinne which is being sold as “an ancient tale of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.”

We all know the ancient Irish myth of horny Gráinne who was set to marry Fionn Mac Chumhaill till she sets her sights on Diarmuid and used drugs and sex to ensnare the poor creature. So where does the rock ‘n’ roll come into all this. Apart from in that kind of delicious behaviour?

“Well, isn’t what you just described, rock ‘n’ roll?” Eanna agrees, laughing. “But there is music in the play, whether it can be considered rock ‘n’ roll is another thing. But it has been written by John Dunne, Paul’s long-time composer. The story basically is that Fionn wants to marry Gráinne, but she doesn’t want to marry him because he’s too old. She’s in love with Diarmuid and, in the legend, puts a bind on him, then spikes the drinks. But for a long time Diarmuid resists the whole thing then realises, ‘fuck it, I love this woman’.”

And they do actually fuck. Which really pisses off Fionn because, until that point, Diarmuid had promised he’d leave a piece of meat outside every bedding place he and Gráinne set down, which will symbolise that they haven’t actually, y’know, done it. But then one night there’s no meat in sight and all hell breaks loose. At least that’s the tale as told in the legend.

“And our play, basically, follows that pattern though there are some things we had to drop because they were hard to transpose into a modern setting” says Mac Liam. “But there aren’t any specific references to make it too obviously modern day. And what’s great about it, for me, is that although the play has its dark moments, it has great humour. It’s also got a lot of balls. One of the problems with Irish myths is that they have been sanitised over the years.”

Anglicised might be a better word in the sense that too many Irish legends were “cleaned up” when translated into English. That is certainly not the case when it comes to Diarmuid and Gráinne, says Eanna.

“That’s where I think this production really scores, putting balls back into these stories” he explains.”And, to tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve enjoyed acting in anything as much as this in years. Because Paul would write stuff and ask us for our input so we’d devise stuff and throw our ideas into the melting pot. That kind of thing makes you feel even more like part of a production. And sometimes he’d integrate these ideas into the script, even fragments of dialogue.”

Diarmuid and Gráinne has already toured in select venues around Ireland before

opening at the Olympia. The audience and critical response alike has been “really great” but Eanna Mac Liam happily admits that he and the rest of the Passion Machine company – including writer Paul Mercier – are looking forward to playing at the Olympia Theatre, the site of such great passion Machine successes in the past. Such as Studs in 1992, when Eanna first joined the company. So it’s his tenth anniversary! Does he want flowers on opening night?

“I hadn’t actually realised I’ve been ten years with Passion Machine till you said it. Sure, if anyone wants to give me flowers on opening night that’s more than alright by me!”