Murder ballad

John Banville believes that the art of creativity is not that far removed from the act of murder. At least that's what he once told Hot Press. Or did he say the “act” of creativity and “art” of murder? Either way, he did joke that if he himself hadn't become a writer maybe he could have been a killer and the psyche of the latter clearly is something that fascinates Banville. And he explored in his novel The Book Of Evidence, which was “inspired” by the crimes of murderer Maclolm MacArthur.

Director Alan Gilsenan, likewise, clearly is fascinated by the darker side of the human psyche and is directing at the Gate theatre a stage adaptation of Banville’s book. So what originally got him hooked into this particular book? Being in the vicinity of death.

“The first time I read the book my father was dying and I was at home nursing him,”" he recalls. “And I was lying in a box room, next door to him and at times like that you are kind of elated, running on adrenaline, not really sleeping, so I read the book through the night. And maybe at a time like that I was more open to the intensity of it.”

All of which is ironic in the sense that Alan's dad was dying of cancer and he himself more recently came close to death as a result of the same disease – unsurprisingly, given that cancer can be transmitted genetically.

“That was definitely true in my case,” Alan muses. “And when I looked back at my own genetic history it was very much prevalent in the family. But the doctors were surprised that it hit me so young. I was in my mid 30s, led a reasonably healthy life, whereas if I’d been in my 50s or mid 60s they’d have thought ‘That’s what it is.’”

Fortunately, Gilsenan was given the all-clear three years ago which left him alive and well enough to delve into the subject of death in The Book Of Evidence and adapt the novel for the stage.

“Even that first night, when I read it, I read the book as a piece of stage writing – a dramatic monologue – and maybe because of the heightened emotion of the time I was more open to its dark story,” Gilsenan says. “But then an awful lot of the books we read and the movies we watch are about murder. And I think we have, partly, a fascination with people who have stepped over the line. We probably all are aware that within us there is that capacity to one day step over the line, hit out at somebody and kill. And what’s brilliant about the book is it explores that potential in us all.”

As a literary creation, Banville’s main character in The Book Of Evidence also is “tremendously witty” which somewhat lightens this exploration of the perverted mind.
“And in the play he’s not trying to defend himself,” adds Gilsenan. “In fact, he’s quite brutal in his objectivity and his attempt to recount the truth as he felt it. So he’s quite hard on himself. And yet a lot of people who've seen the play have said that one of the strange experiences you have, as a member of the audience, is that you end up empathising with this character, who has very few redeeming features – apart from a certain facility with language and a sense of humour.”

But then Banville himself must have empathised with the murderer, to whatever degree, for whatever reasons. But one presumes that Alan Gilsenan, in the end, is more than pleased that Banville became a writer rather than a killer.

“I definitely am,” he responds laughing. “Even so, I’m sure he would have been a wonderful murderer!”