Stage: McGuinness is good for you

Sometimes the delight an actor feels in playing a particular role is palpable from the back of an auditorium.

So it is with Risteard Cooper’s role as Piper in the Abbey’s current production of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme. This is not to denigrate the uniformly flawless ensemble acting of the other cast members, it’s just that from the moment Cooper is first sighted as a solo soldier preparing to fight in the trenches during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, to the moment he sings the play’s concluding song, the actor seems to revel in the poetry, pathos, humour and passion of Frank McGuinness’s magnificent play.
Now 37, Risteard – probably most famous as a member of the Apres Match team – first read Frank’s play back at Trinity and, even then, was “blown away” by the power of the writing.
“Even then I thought it was a fantastic play. but obviously you don’t really ever get a sense of how great a play is until you are actually in it,” he says. “Partly because you’re not really thinking about it until you are in it. But then when I was sent the script this time round I realised it is truly magnificent and beautifully written. And the part of Piper is irresistible. And I do get great joy out of playing it because the character is multi-facteted. He’s deeply troubled, lacking the fundamental things a person needs to be stable, like love, for example. That’s a very rich basis to work from.”
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme is also one of Frank McGuinness’s autobiographically coded plays, which, to quote the press release, ‘explores the bonds that unite a disparate group of men’ –– although not mentioned is the fact that Risteard’s character is gay, as was McGuiness.
“What’s really powerful about the play is that it does deal with homosexual and heterosexual love but it’s not based in sexuality,” Cooper observes. “It’s based in the human experience and doesn’t draw a dividing line between homosexual or heterosexual love. It’s just about male to male bonding in a war situation. And all the huge themes of love, God and facing death are dealt with so beautifully in that context.
“And they are intertwined, very much part of the same experience for these individuals. And they do all, ultimately, love each other. That really comes across in that coupling section which shows that they desperately need each other. So it’s a love story, in essence.”
That said, ‘a love story’ is not the phrase that springs to mind in relation to the very public battleground – between certain members of the Abbey Board and it’s Artistic Director Ben Barnes – that the Abbey became during the rehearsal period for Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme. In this context it’s a wonder the production is so, well, wonderful.
“Despite the obvious troubles the Abbey has had we were somewhat removed from it though it could have hung a shadow over things,” says Risteard. “If anything it galvanised us because we were very determined to make the production work. Robin LeFefere, the director, instilled that feeling and makes everybody really want to be part of a team.
“But there was nothing we could really do about what was happening overall and it didn’t help, that’s for sure. The one thing you want to feel is that you are a part of something that really works – as in the National Theatre – but the one way to make it work is to do whatever you can to the best of your ability no matter what is going on. There’s no point in throwing a tantrum or sulking about it. But I think whoever takes over from Ben Barnes [whose tenure as Artistic Director ends next year] should be made to feel they are getting an attractive proposition as opposed to it being a poisoned chalice. That is important for all concerned.” b

Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme is currently running at the Abbey Theatre