R
Claire Rafferty
Born Belfast May 1982
Imaginative and mettlesome supporting actor, who made an early impression as the incautious Lucy, in Belfast based Tinderbox’s presentation of Leo Butler’s social drama ‘Redundant’, directed by Tanya Nash in 2003.
A LAMDA graduate, she made numerous appearances on the celebrated drama school’s Linbury stage during 2007/08. She was the titular, lovestruck heroine in director John Link’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the Mother-in Law in John Baxter’s adaptation of Brecht’s ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’, both 2007. In 2008 she took the leading role of Madame Ranevskaya in Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’, directed by Joseph Blatchley.
After her graduation, prominent theatre director Max Stafford-Clark offered her dual roles in Out of Joint’s 2009 touring production of Robin Soan’s drama ‘Mixed Up North’, a play innovatively staged at LAMDA in 2008. Then followed a faultless performance as unmarried mother Christina Mundy in Tamara Harvey’s impressive take of Brian Friel’s tour de force, ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’, which opened at Birmingham Rep in February 2010. The cast also included Siobhan McSweeney, resplendent as the ebullient Maggie, who would later find pronounced celebrity as Sister Michael, in Lisa McGee’s phenomenally successful ‘Derry Girls’.
At the end of the summer that year she reunited with Out of Joint and Max Stafford-Clark, taking a co-starring role as Elizabeth in Richard Bean’s black comedy ‘The Big Fellah’ at the Lyric, Hammersmith, with an excellent Finbar Lynch as New York ensconced IRA fundraiser David Costello.
Following her screen debut, a modest guest role in the crime drama series ‘The Bletchley Circle’ in 2012, she returned to Belfast and a two part casting at the Lyric Theatre. Playing the tragic Lady Macduff and the Third Witch in director Lynne Parker’s noteworthy, bare boned, Ulster influenced ‘Macbeth’, she appeared alongside an energised Stuart Graham and Andrea Irvine as the blood-soaked murderous duo.
Further screenwork during 2013/15 included a two episode stint as the melancholic Anna Haldane, in the BBC’s georgic police drama series, ‘Shetland ‘ in 2013.
In 2014/15 she had a low-key recurring role as Christine Larkin in Alan Cubitt’s acclaimed psychological thriller ‘The Fall’, with any further worthwhile screen projects largely restricted to television.
She found periodic work on series such as ‘The Frankenstein Chronicles’ 2015/17 and as Miss Mooney in the triumphant ‘Derry Girls’ 2018/19.
A laudable, if infrequent stage performer, Claire Rafferty has been immoderately frustrated by a functional screen output which has essentially stymied her evident potential.
Other Theatre, Film and TV Credits:
Theatre
–Three Loose Teeth(2014) Shoreditch Festival
Film
–The Woman In Black: Angel of Death(2014)
-Beast(2017)
TV
-Misfits(2013)
-Doctors(2015)
-Cuffs(2015)
-Vera(2016)
-Silent Witness(2017)
-Casualty(2019)
-The Feed(2019)
-Three Families(2021)
Norman Rainey (William Morison)
Born Belfast 28th April 1888
Died Los Angeles 10th September 1960
Low-level actor/playwright who became starstruck in his mid-fifties following some marginal work in director Reginald Le Borg’s 1943 horror/mystery, ‘Calling Dr. Death’, a vehicle for Rainey’s rising star daughter Patricia Morison. Although his scenes were later deleted, he persevered and made his legitimate film debut the following year in legendary French director Julien Duvivier’s war drama, ‘The Impostor’ starring the great Gallic character player Jean Gabin.
His dalliance with the screen then stalled for several years, resuming in 1947 with a very minor role as Professor Lovell in Sidney Lanfield’s less than screwball comedy, ‘The Trouble With Women’, starring Ray Milland and Teresa Wright. That year also saw him, briefly again, in director Victor Saville’s eve of war, rural English set, ‘If Winter Comes’ and in a rush of low-profile work from 1948 until 1950, he appeared in six further films. He took a nodding and grinning credit as a lawyer in Edward Ludwig’s 1948 sea adventure, ‘Wake of the Red Witch’, in a cast headed by John Wayne, which preceded a series of roles with him as either a butler, footman or servant.
On balance he could not have expected much else, although two of the three films concerned were considered major studio projects, with MGM sparing little on personnel or sets. He was positively below-stairs in both Mervyn Le -Roy’s ‘Little Women’ and Compton Bennett’s ‘The Forsyte Saga’, aka ‘That Forsyte Woman’, both 1949. His second Republic Pictures appearance, the very un-western sounding ‘Transcontinent Express’ 1950, was similarly peripheral as was the slightly higher budgeted ‘Lorna Doone’ 1951, directed by Phil Karlson and starring Richard Greene.
He then had at least a modicum of screen time in two routine fillers, the first a crime drama, ‘Breakdown’ 1952, was followed by director Allan Davis’ North Western Frontier saga, ‘Rogue’s March’ 1953, again with Richard Greene. His introduction to television was a little more notable, taking the role of star Richard Carlson’s father Dad Philbrick, in two episodes of the rather rabid red-baiting ‘I Led 3 Lives’ between 1953/54.
His final big screen role was as insignificant as his first, twelve years earlier, although at least he bowed out in style with MGM’s first black and white film in wide-screen format, director Henry Koster’s Oscar nominated ‘The Power and the Prize’ 1956, adapted from the novel by Howard Swiggett. Norman Rainey’s screen career was less than functional and had no discernable highpoints. He will be remembered as the father of actor/singer Patricia Morison, whose own highly successful career spanned almost fifty years.
Other Film and TV credits:
Film
-Train to Alcatraz (1948)
– East Side West Side (1949)
TV
– Lux Video Theatre(1954)
Stephen Rea
Born Belfast 31st October 1944
Unashamedly taciturn, internationally acclaimed actor/director, a hugely influential figure in Irish theatre for many years, founding The Young Irish Theatre Company whilst at Queen’s University, Belfast in the early sixties. He made his uncredited professional stage debut in the 1964 Abbey production of M.J. Molloy’s Irish period comedy ‘ The Wooing of Duvessa’ and later the same year landed a part in the brand new early evening soap ‘ Crossroads’, set in the fictitious West Midlands village of Kings Oak, though his role of young commis chef Pepe Costa lasted for only a few episodes. He returned to the Abbey in 1965, appearing as George Campbell in Sean Dowling’s ‘The Best of Motives’ and over the next two years had small roles in plays such as Louis Macniece’s ‘One for the Grave’ and Kenneth E.L. Deale’s ‘The Conspiracy’, both 1966.
Disillusioned with the Abbey’s future strategy he left for London, where in the whimsical company of legendary Irish actor Jack McGowran, he made his West End debut in McGowran’s own production of O’Casey’s ‘ Shadow of a Gunman’ at the Mermaid Theatre in 1967. In 1969 he made the first of his many Royal Court appearances in John Antrobus’ ‘Captain Oates’ Left Sock’ and around this time co-founded the London based Free Hold Theatre Group, working energetically for almost a year in a fringe world which more than reflected his own aspirations at the time. Rea’s first venture into films was not memorable, playing a bemused villager in the dreadful ‘Cry of the Banshee’ in 1970 and unbelievably would wait twelve years before his next big screen appearance.
His earliest working relationship with playwright Brian Friel was in ‘ Freedom of the City’ at the Royal Court in 1973 and in 1975 made his National Theatre debut at the Old Vic, playing a most accurate Christy Mahon in ‘ The Playboy of the Western World’. He was now established as an actor of substance, following his Royal Court and National Theatre appearances during the seventies, which included a brilliant pairing with J.G.Devlin as the Grave Diggers, native accent et al, in Peter Hall’s adaptation of ‘Hamlet’ at The National in 1975. Rea’s next project in his crusade for Irish theatrical expansion was co-founding the Field Day Theatre Company with Brian Friel in 1980. The concept was to create a travelling company which would present new and established work from city to hinterland with the first production, Friel’s ‘ Translations’, unveiled at the Guildhall, Derry in early autumn 1980 and saw Rea as Owen and Liam Neeson as Doalty in a cast of leading Irish lights. The company’s second production, Chekhov’s ‘ Three Sisters ‘ at the same venue in 1981 had an even bigger Irish cast, including James Ellis, Eileen Pollock and Michael Duffy, with Rea as director.
In 1982, Neil Jordan cast Stephen Rea in his seminal first effort ‘ Angel’, in which Rea’s Saxophonist Danny becomes reluctantly involved in murderous paramilitary activity. This was the beginning of a long collaboration with Jordan and the two would work together with great success on both stage and screen over the next twenty five years. During this time Field Day was producing at least one quality play a year and Rea found himself juggling stage, film and television work throughout the eighties. Among his better stage performances were roles in ‘ High Society’ at the Haymarket 1986,’ The Shaughraun’ for the NT at the Olivier 1988 and ‘ Saint Oscar’ with Field Day 1989.
TV appearances around this time included Mike Leigh’s ‘ Four Days in July’ 1984, ‘ Lost Belongings’ 1987 and the comedy series ‘Nobody Here but Us Chickens’ 1989, which co-starred James Ellis. In the nineties Stephen Rea’s work rate became frenetic, appearing in a multitude of films and his association with Field Day yielded two further plays, Seamus Heaney’s ‘ The Cure at Troy’ 1990 and Chekhov’s ‘ Uncle Vanya’ 1995. In between he enjoyed a long Off-Broadway run at the Booth Theatre during 1992/3 as Beirut hostage Adam, in Frank McGuinness’ ‘Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me’, earning Tony nominations for him as Best Actor and also Best Play.
His film work included,’ Interview with a Vampire’ and ‘ Pret a Porter’ 1994, Neil Jordan’s ‘Michael Collins’ 1996, ‘The Butcher Boy’ 1997 and ‘The End of the Affair; 1999. Rea’s appetite for work, seemingly insatiable in the eighties and nineties turned positively rapacious in the new century, with an average of three films a year. Among his principle successes were director Bruce Beresford’s ‘Evelyn’ and ‘ FeardotCom’ 2002,’ Bloom ‘ 2003 and Neil Jordan’s black comedy ‘Breakfast on Pluto’ 2005. He was still able to allocate time to theatre, directing ‘ The Plough and the Stars’ at the Gaiety, Dublin in 2000 and appearing in’ Cyrano De Bergerac’, a National Theatre production at the Olivier in 2004. His interest in all media showed no signs of fatigue during the next five years and was underlined in no short measure by numerous stage and screen roles across the genres.
Films included a functional comedy ‘Sixty Six’ 2006, director Stephen Hopkins’ religio-horror ‘The Reaping’ 2007 and the fantasy drama ‘Ondine’ 2009, again with Neil Jordan and starring Colin Farrell. Two new Sam Shepherd plays brought him back to the Abbey in 2007 and 2009, the elegiac ‘Kicking a Dead Horse’ and the poignant ‘Ages of the Moon’, both superbly executed two-handers, the latter in tandem with Donegal born Sean McGinley. Both pieces subsequently toured with great success, finishing with a flourish in their respective Off-Broadway venues. Screen opportunities from 2011, were as expected, plentiful, with co-starring roles in Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s 1950’s rural Ireland set, ‘Stella Days’ in 2011 and on television in 2013, as powerful businessman Conran Letts, in series one of Dennis Kelly’s action drama ‘Utopia’.
A prominent credit as MI6 boss, Sir Hugh Hayden Hoyle, in Hugo Blick’s spy thriller, mini-series, ‘The Honourable Woman’, was followed by Lluis Quilez’s horror thriller ‘Out of the Dark’ , both 2014. At the Galway International Arts Festival that year, he was one of three nameless characters in Enda Walsh’s sell-out, madcap comedy ‘Ballyturk’, commanding the Blackbox stage, together with an uber energised Cillian Murphy, the play, with cast intact, later transferred to the National’s Lyttleton stage.
In 2015 he cut a delightfully evil Danforth, in director Evgeny Ruman’s fantasy feature, ‘Ruby Strangelove Young Witch’ and at the Abbey Theatre, was imperious as the deluded Belfast Loyalist, Eric Miller, in David Ireland’s caustic comedy, ‘Cyprus Avenue’, with an underused Julia Dearden as his wife Bernie. The extent of his range was tested in two television series during 2015/16, producing a virtuoso performance as the indefatigable Inspector Bucket, in the seamlessly interwoven ‘Dickensian’ and in Andrew Davies’ exceptional adaptation of Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’, played the self-serving Prince Vassily Kuragin, with impassive assurance.
In 2018 he was Alexander Pope in three episodes of Justin Marks’ American sci-fi series ‘Counterpart’ and Conneely in director Lance Daly’s ‘Black 47’, a revenge thriller set against the backdrop of the Irish Famine. He then secured an eight episode stint as wife-killer Martin Killane in the 2020 psychological thriller series ‘The Stranger’, starring Richard Armitage and co-directed by Hannah Quinn and Daniel O’Hara. In director Stephen Fingleton’s one-take, Belfast shot ‘Nightride’, released in 2022, he was perfectly plausible as merciless money lender Joe, alongside Waterford born Moe Dunford as small- time criminal Budge. Stephen Rea began his professional career hoping to re-awaken a dormant Irish theatrical tradition and due to his innovative skills and independence, particularly in his early years, helped at least to stir the renaissance.
Other Theatre, Film and TV credits:
Theatre
– Grouse Moor Image(1968) Bristol Hippodrome
– Comedians(1974) Old Vic, London
– Geography of a Horse Dreamer (1974) Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London
– The Cherry Orchard (1975) Riverside Studios, London
– Strawberry Fields(1977) NT Cottesloe, London
– Buried Child (1980) Hampstead Theatre, London
– Miss Julie (1983) Duke of Yorks, London
– The Murderers(1985) NT Studio, London
– Making History (1988) Field Day Theatre Company
– Piano (1990) NT Cottesloe, London
– Ashes to Ashes (1996) Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London
– Celebration (2005) Albery Theatre, London
Film
– Loose Connections (1987)
– The Company of Wolves (1984)
– Life is Sweet (1990)
– The Crying Game (1992)
– Trojan Eddie (1996)
– Still Crazy (1998)
– The Musketeer (2001)
– Control (2004)
– V for Vendetta (2005)
– River Queen (2005)
– Sisters (2006)
– The Reaping (2007)
– Stuck (2007)
– The Heavy (2010)
– Tasting Menu(2013)
– Asylum(2014)
– Styria(2014)
– The Widow(2018)
– Greta(2018)
TV
– Z Cars (1969)
– The Professionals(1978)
– Minder (1984)
– Shergar (1984)
– Endgame (1989)
– Citizen X (1995)
– Snow in August (2001)
– Copenhagen (2002)
– Celebration (2006)
– The Shadow Line (2010)
– Roadkill (2011)
– Thanksgiving(2018)
– Flesh and Blood(2020)
William J. Rea
Born Belfast 1884
Died London 26th November 1932
Imposing, tireless and exclusively stagebound actor, particularly active during the years leading to the Great War and beyond, forging his name with Barry Jackson’s newly built Birmingham Repertory Theatre, making his debut there in 1913.
His inaugural stage appearance saw him as De Brazac in Arthur Law’s farce ‘The New Boy’, performed at the Prince’s Theatre Llandudno in May 1907. Later that year he made his London introduction in the same play, this time as Mr. Stubber, staged at the New Theatre, St. Martin’s Lane. In 1908 he toured extensively in Harry Major Paull’s ‘The Fortune of the Fan’ and worked for several years on the road with theatre managers Henry Chattell and Walter Howard.
For a short season in 1913 he was a member of the Percy/Graeme travelling company, before joining Birmingham Rep, where he was given an early induction as humanistic son Tom McClurg , in St John Greer Ervine’s Belfast set political drama ‘The Orangeman’, directed by Esme Percy. Thrown into the repertory maelstrom from the outset, he remained generally unperturbed in such talented company and in a wide variety of productions.
At the beginning of the war he played Old Malone in G.B. Shaw’s philosophical comedy ‘Man and Superman’ and took the role of Sir Patrick Cullen in the playwright’s social drama, ‘The Doctor’s Dilemma’, both 1914. Notable roles during 1915/18 included the Friar in Emile Verhaevren’s ‘The Cloister’ in 1915, Malvolio in ‘Twelfth Night’ and Dr. Caius in ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’, both 1916, directed by John Drinkwater and starring the redoubtable Felix Aylmer.
In 1917 he appeared as violinist Gaffer Pearce in John Masefield’s rural drama ‘The Tragedy of Nan’ and was central in the large cast of Alexander Dumas’ classic adventure yarn ‘The Corsican Brothers’. The hectic schedule continued into 1918, working on numerous productions with the Rep’s stage manager, director, playwright and actor, John Drinkwater. Worthy of mention were St. John Hankin’s drama ‘The Last of the Da Mullins’, Walter Wing Pinero’s farce ‘Dandy Dick’and John Millington Synge’s mythical ‘Deirdre of the Sorrows’. The Latter featuring a young Arthur Ridley, the future Private Godfrey in ‘Dad’s Army’ and the wonderful Dublin character player Maire O’Neill, the original Pegeen Mike of Synge’s masterwork ‘The Playboy of the Western World’.
A month earlier though, in what would subsequently be his magnus opus, John Drinkwater offered him the titular role in the premiere of his epic quasi-biographical ‘Abraham Lincoln’. Such was the success of the production, it later transferred to the Hammersmith Playhouse, London and in December 1919, opened at the Cort Theatre on Broadway, with Frank McGlynn Sr. assuming the character of the great emancipator ‘Honest Abe’. In December 1918 into 1919, Birmingham Rep mounted an equitable adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, directed by John Drinkwater, in which he appeared to great effect as the fortune seeking Petruchio, opposite Margaret Chatwin as the fiery Katherine. Later in 1919 he was invited by the Phoenix Society in London, to play the part of the nefarious Bosola, in what was a constrained production of John Webster’s blood fest, ‘The Duchess of Malfi’, presented at the Lyric, Hammersmith.
John Drinkwater afforded him high profile parts, most markedly the title role in St. John Greer Ervine’s rural Ulster tragedy ‘John Ferguson’, produced by Birminham Rep, again at the Lyric, Hammersmith. The play enjoyed a decent run for six weeks during April 1920 and boasted a powerhouse cast of Miles Malleson, Moyna Macgill, Maire O’Neill and Herbert Marshall . Important work in the 1920’s, although less diverse than in previous years, nevertheless included a number of commendable performances. He was a comfortable fit as Charles I in John Drinkwater’s ‘Cromwell’ at the Prince’s Theatre, Bristol in 1922 and played Heartwell, in William Congreve’s 17th century comedy ‘The Old Bachelor’, at the Regent Theatre, London in 1924.
At the Kingsway Theatre, London in 1925, he took the plaudits as the Bishop of Stephensbury, in Cicely Hamilton’s comedy ‘The Old Adam’, a Birmingham Rep presentation directed by South African born H.K. Ayliff, pioneer with Barry Jackson of Shakespearean plays in modern dress. In March 1926 at the Court Theatre, London, director Alice Fredman cast him as the lead in her limited run of Moliere’s ageless comedy , ‘Tartuffe: Or the Imposter’, with emerging star Rex O’Malley as the love-struck suitor Valere. Later that year he toured with his own production, the melodrama ‘The Fiddlemaker’, playing the eponymous Andrea Maggini, in a cast including fellow Birmingham Rep player Arthur Blanch.
Having missed the first few years of Barry Jackson’s Malvern Theatre Festival, he endeavoured to make his mark in the festival of 1932. He registered exemplary performances in Thomas Southerne’s anti-slavery exposition ‘Oroonoko’, starring Ralph Richardson and Dion Boucicault’s comedy ‘London Assurance’. Especially noteworthy was his portrayal of the greedy and gullible Sir Epicure Mammon in Ben Jonson’s dark farce, ‘The Alchemist’, all directed by H.K. Ayliff.
Tragically some weeks later, he fell seriously ill at the Liverpool Playhouse, whilst touring in Edward G. Knoblauch’s romantic drama, ‘Evensong’ and passed away on the 26th November 1932.
William J. Rea to the end, was a much respected stage purist, a consummate repertory player who regularly and legitimately rubbed shoulders with the giants of the art.
Other Theatre Credits:
-His Indian Wife(1912) Tour
-Little Man(1915) Birmingham Rep
-Macbeth(1916) Birmingham Rep
-The Silver Box(1916) Birmingham Rep
-God of Quiet(1916) Birmingham Rep
-You Never Can Tell(1916) Birmingham Rep
-The Farmer’s Wife(1916) Birmingham Rep
-Her Proper Pride(1916) Birmingham Rep
-Cophetua(1917) Birmingham Rep
-X=O(1917) Birmingham Rep
-The Honeymoon(1917) Birmingham Rep
-Pillars of Society(1918) Birmingham Rep
-Five Birds in a Cage(1918) Birmingham Rep
-One Day More(1918) Birmingham Rep
-Workhouse Ward(1918) Birmingham Rep
-Alice in Wonderland(1919) Birmingham Rep
-A Woman Killed With Kindness(1922) Birmingham Rep
-Fan-Tan(1922) Birmingham Rep
-The Barretts of Wimpole Street(1932) Birmingham Rep
-Street Scene(1932) Birmingham Rep
-Many Waters(1932) Birmingham Rep
-The Play of the Weather(1932) Malvern Festival
Maxwell Reed
Born Larne 2nd April 1919
Died London 31st October 1974
An unfortunate mixture of ruggedness and woodenness, not a disciple of self effacement, one time husband of a young Joan Collins on whose person he was alleged to have inflicted grievous bodily harm. Following a brief period as a merchant seaman and war service in the RAF, Reed arrived in England were he joined a repertory company, making several appearances at the New Theatre, London in productions such as Henry IV, Part I and Oedipus Rex, both 1945. Within a short time he made his screen debut appearing on the credit list as ‘actor’ in the film musical ‘Gaiety George’ 1946. Still relatively inexperienced, he conjured up a co-starring role in the Margaret Lockwood film ‘ Madness of the Heart’ 1949 and in the same year had another similarly credited role in ‘ The Lost People’ with Siobhan McKenna.
Now a recognisable face in low budget British thrillers and melodramas, he worked constantly throughout the early fifties pausing along the way to marry British starlet Joan Collins in 1952. In 1955, with his short career running out of steam, he appeared in the Robert Wise spaghetti epic ‘ Helen of Troy’ and, in 1956 was offered the title role in ‘Captain Grief ‘ in a now forgotten TV series of south seas swashbuckling.He did not work again until 1961 when, virtually typecast from his immediate past he took a co-starring role in the bland ‘ Pirates of Tortuga ‘. He followed this film with two others in 1962, ‘ The Notorious Landlady’ with Jack Lemmon and Otto Preminger’s ‘ Advise and Consent’, but neither could revive his sinking career. He spent the next few years in TV mediocrity or in the odd feature film, making his final screen appearance as a press photographer in the Charles Bronson film ‘ Mr Majestyk’ 1974.
Maxwell Reeds departure was as unheralded as his entrance but he did at least have some opportunities which in retrospect was as much as he could have hoped for.
Other Film and TV credits:
Film
– The Brothers(1947)
– The Clouded Yellow (1949)
– The Square Ring (1953)
– Before I Wake (1955)
TV
– Bonanza (1961)
– Perry Mason (1964)
– Daniel Boone (1965)
– Sherlock Holmes (1968)
Lalor Roddy
Born Belfast 1954
Dexterous and impassioned stage player with appreciable screen experience, who came relatively late to acting. He was thirty three when he first appeared on stage, taking the considerable role of Gandalf, in David Grant’s Youth Theatre production of ‘The Hobbit’, presented at the Old Museum Arts Centre, Belfast in 1987.
In 1988 he co-founded Tinderbox Theatre Company with actor/writer Tim Loane among others and that year made his professional stage debut as Trevor, in Thomas McLaughlin’s melodrama ‘Fingertips’, again at the Old Museum Arts Centre.
Stronger roles followed and in 1989 at the Lyric, he was cast as Lennie, in Stewart Parker’s ‘Pentecost’ and appeared in a revival of Sam Thompson’s Ulster classic ‘Over the Bridge’ in 1990.
He was seen fleetingly in to BBC NI plays in 1991, William Trevor’s ‘Events at Drimaghleen’, which was his first television appearance and Owen O’Neill’s black comedy ‘Arise and Go Now’.
His profile was high enough for the RSC to engage him for two productions at The Pit during the early nineties, ‘Amphibians’ 1992 and director Simon Usher’s ‘King Baby’ 1993.
A breakthrough in terms of national recognition came in the Barbican’s 1996 production of Frank McGuinness’ celebrated WWI parable, ‘Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme’, in which he gave an outstanding performance as the swaggering former Belfast shipyard worker, Private Nat McIlwaine.
Paradoxically he was finding it impossible to secure anything of any depth on screen, indeed the only work he was offered was an infinitesimal role in his film debut , writer/director Barry Devlin’s ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ 1994 and a minor guest appearance in an episode of the crime drama series ‘Ruth Rendell Mysteries’ 1997.
His theatre standing in Ireland in the late nineties was quietly gaining a respectable momentum and was consolidated with roles such as Walter, in Gary Mitchell’s ‘In a Little World of Our Own’, at the Abbey and Silas, in ‘Silas Marner’ at the Tivoli Theatre, Dublin, both 1997.
He returned to the RSC in 1998, in the company of a small group of Irish actors for a short season of plays by Synge and Yeats, presented at The Other Place, Stratford and the same year appeared as Provost, in Michael Boyd’s production of ‘Measure for Measure’ at the Barbican Theatre, London.
In 1999 at the John Jay College Theatre New York, he made his US stage debut , appearing as Father Brosnan, in a well received Abbey Players tour with Brian Friel’s ‘The Freedom of the City’, which was making a long awaited return visit, following the 1974 Broadway production, abruptly withdrawn after a week, amidst apathetic reviews.
Theatre assignments in 2000 included ‘Oedipus’ at Cork Opera House and another Frank McGuinness play, ‘Barbaric Comedies’, presented first at the Abbey and then at the King’s Theatre, as part of the Edinburgh Festival.
The same year, the absurdity of his screen status was exemplified by the valueless role he played in Mary McGuckian’s biopic, ‘Best’, in which he appeared as a petrol station attendant, with John Lynch in the title role as the legendary footballer.
The arrant contrast in his acting fortunes was bewildering, a much respected figure in Irish theatre but senselessly sidelined on screen.
In 2002 he took the part of Heck, in Gary Mitchell’s televised adaptation of ‘As the Beast Sleeps’ and on stage at the Lyric Theatre, played Donny in David Mamet’s ‘American Buffalo’.
Further Lyric Theatre highlights included a transcendent performance as Jack, in Conor McPherson’s much travelled, ‘The Weir’ 2004 and was superb as Coleman Connor, in Martin McDonagh’s forceful black comedy, ‘The LonesomeWest’ 2005.
He enjoyed a sustained period of work on both stage and screen during 2007/10, appearing in Richard Dormer’s Irish famine snapshot, ‘This Piece of Earth’, a Ransom Productions presentation at the Old Museum Arts Centre, Belfast in 2007 and at the Abbey the following year played ex -sideshow boxer Peadar, in Billy Roche’s drama, the beautifully elegiac ‘Lay Me Down Softly’.
On screen in 2009 he took a starring role as John, an ailing itinerant survivor in the locally produced fantasy drama, ‘Ditching’, set in a futuristic wasteland of Northern Ireland. That same year at the Belfast Festival at Queens, he was the ostentatious philanderer Lev, in Gavin Rostick’s splendid Jewish confessional piece, ‘This is What We Sang’, presented at the site specific Belfast Synagogue.
Another intense study in the art of stage playing, was his drink- fuelled schoolmaster Clement O’Donnell, in an excellent revival of Brian Friel’s ‘The Home Place’, performed at the Grand Opera House, Belfast in 2010, with a sterling cast including Ian McElhinney and Aislin McGuckin as O’Donnell’s daughter, Margaret. A positive period from 2012, both on stage and screen, saw him co-star as Derry crime boss Frank Feeney in director Kieron J. Walsh’s drama ‘Jump’ in 2012, in a cast which included Martin McCann and Ciaran McMenamin.
Following incidental appearances in two small scale Irish produced films in 2013, he took central roles in two stage plays; Joe and Gerard Brennan’s fast moving comedy ‘The Sweety Bottle’, at the Grand Opera House, Belfast in 2013 and Decadent Theatre’s 2014 touring revival of Stuart Carolan’s compelling mid-eighties, Co. Armagh set, ‘Defender of the Faith’. In the latter, playing to perfection, the slow-witted farm-hand Barney.
In 2016 he was a credible Thomas Clarke, Irish Republican leader and a principle player in the 1916 Easter Rising, in the RTE commissioned, commemorative mini-series ‘Rebellion’, written by Colin Teevan. A number of mainly Irish produced films during 2017/18, kept him busy, but with the exception of one or two, offered little in terms of meaningful work.
Noteworthy among these were his Francis McCrea in writer/director Frank Berry’s Dublin set social drama, ‘Michael Inside’ in 2017 and Aislinn Clarke’s 2018 horror feature, ‘The Devil’s Doorway’, a compelling four-hander, in which he took a central role as Father Thomas. At Wexford’s Dun Mhuire Theatre in 2019 he was indefectible as the homeless, sagacious John Joe, in Decadent Theatre Company’s premiere of Billy Roche’s melancholic ‘A Love Like That’, directed by Andrew Flynn and set in a provincial Irish library on the cusp of closure.
Lalor Roddy’s star has unquestionably shone brightest on stage, a voice unfortunately not always heard loudest beyond theatre, a prime case perhaps of life interposing with destiny.
Other Theatre, Film and TV credits:
Theatre
– This Love Thing (1991) Old Museum Arts Centre, Belfast
– Shadow Of A Gunman (1995) Glasgow Citizens Theatre
– Judas Of The Gallarus(1999) Abbey Theatre, Dublin
– Death And The Ploughman(2001) Project Arts, Dublin
– Closing Time(2002) Tivoli Theatre, Dublin
– Paradise(2004) Lyric Theatre, Belfast
– Over The Bridge(2010) Waterfront Studio, Belfast
– A Better Boy(2012) MV Confiance, Lanyon Quay, Belfast
– Desire Under the Elms(2013) Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin
– Monsters, Dinosaurs, Ghosts(2015) Abbey Theatre, Dublin
Film
– The Escapist (2001)
– Boy Eats Girl (2005)
– Hunger (2008)
– City Of Ember (2008)
– Sensation (2010)
– Mount Analogue Revisited (2010)
– Made in Belfast (2013)
– The Sea (2013)
– Lost in the Living (2015)
– Zoo (2017)
– Float Like a Butterfly (2018)
– Ordinary Love(2019)
– Boys From County Hell(2020)
– Black Medicine(2021)
– It Is in Us All(2022)
TV
– Chosen (2004)
– Scapegoat (2009)
– Game of Thrones (2011)
– Quirke (2014)
– Vikings (2015)
– The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015)
– A Sign of Things (2017)
Louis Rolston
Born Belfast 24th December 1923
Died Belfast 13th August 1991
Tireless character player, formerly with the Rosemary Drama Group, Belfast and active with the Lyric Theatre, Belfast from its early years. He made numerous appearances on the bijou stage in Derryvolgie Avenue, home of founders Mary and Pearse O’Malley.
Noteworthy roles during this time included his Kiboch the Monk in Joy Rudd’s three act verse play ‘The Children of Lir’ in 1956 and as Creon, King of Thebes in ‘Oedipus’ in 1959. In a rare excursion from the Lyric in 1960, he took the role of Josie Nelson in the Jonathan Goodman directed ‘The Randy Dandy’, Stewart Love’s Belfast set shipyard drama, presented on a then artistically ailing Group Theatre stage.
In the 1960’s he was a constant with the Lyric Players, taking key credits in John B. Keane’s ‘Many Young Men of Twenty’ in 1961 and in 1963, Beckett’s ‘Endgame’, playing the wheelchair bound Hamm, with Greg Collins as dogsbody Clov.
During the mid-sixties and with Mary O’Malley still the dominant directing force at the Lyric, he made himself available for a diverse range of productions. Among these were Albert Camus’ ‘Caligula’ in 1966, G.E. Lessing’s ‘Nathan the Wise’ and was a most impressive John of Gaunt , Duke of Lancaster, in ‘The Tragedy of King Richard II’, both 1967. The latter featured Sam McCready as the eponymous monarch, Gerard Murphy and a teenaged John Hewitt.
A year later in October 1968, the company had moved to a new purpose built theatre overlooking the River Lagan in Ridgeway Street, Belfast. The opening presentation, a trio of playlets collectively entitled ‘The Cuchulain Cycle’ was dedicated to an O’Malley favourite, W.B. Yeats, with Rolston appearing in the first and third of the series.
A subtle turn as Sir Peter Teazle in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 18th century comedy, ‘The School for Scandal’ in 1969 was followed in 1970 by an arresting portrayal of obdurate union official Rabbie White, in a convincing revival of Sam Thompson’s Ulster classic ‘Over the Bridge’, directed by Chloe Gibson. An interesting link was the casting of Catherine Gibson and John McBride, reprising their original 1960 roles as Nellie Mitchell and Billy Morgan.
In the 1970’s, unquestionably his most productive period with the Lyric, he proved prolific across all genres, effecting pinpoint characterizations in a number of acclaimed productions.
In 1971 he played the gormless Shawn Keogh in Mairin and Nuala O’Farrell’s ‘The Heart’s a Wonder’, a musical reworking of ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ and a year later was main protagonist Old McCann, in the premiere of John Boyd’s drama ‘The Farm’, directed by Tomas Mac Anna.
A choice credit in 1973 was his central role as the licentious Arnolphe in Moliere’s 17th century comedy ‘School for Wives’, with Derry born Ann Hasson as Agnes, the object of his desire. That same year he made his screen debut as Fermanagh farmer Jody, in the first of Eugene McCabe’s trilogy of television plays, ‘Cancer’, with J.G. Devlin as his brother Dinny and co-starring Wesley Murphy and Michael Duffy.
Now a permanent fixture in Lyric cast lists, he continued to stretch his range in a myriad of challenging roles. This was borne out by his performances from 1974, which confirmed his status as an attested factotum. He was Signor Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, in director Amos Mokadi’s absorbing ‘A Man for All Seasons’, Robert Bolt’s celebrated study of Sir Thomas More, with John Hewitt as the venerated martyr, staged as part of the 1974 Belfast Festival at Queen’s.
He was particularly comfortable as imbibing publican Michael James Flaherty, in director Sam McCready’s persuasive attempt at Synge’s ‘The Playboy of the Western World’ in 1975, with Stella McCusker as Pegeen Mike and Desmond Maurer as Christy Mahon.
Singular work in the latter half of the seventies included his Aloysius Hennessy, in a forceful 1976 revival of James Plunkett’s ‘The Risen People’, a factual exposition of the 1913 Dublin Lock-Out, which heralded the stage debut of former Slemish Player, Liam Neeson as strike leader Big Jim Larkin.
In a busy 1977 he registered several methodical portrayals, most notably as Willie Downie in John Boyd’s 1930’s Belfast set social drama, ‘The Street’, directed by Group Theatre veteran Doreen Hepburn. He followed this with a leading part as the priest Joseph Mitchell, in Father Desmond Forrestal’s ‘Black Man’s Country’, a narrative on the expiration of Irish Catholic missionaries in war torn Nigeria in the late 1960’s.
He was then cast as the compassionate Dr. Jim Bayliss in ‘All My Sons’, director Tony Dinner’s solid adaptation of Arthur Miller’s trenchant depiction of post WW2, small town America, given credence by leading actors J.J. Murphy and Lucie Jamieson as Joe and Kate Keller.
First-rate stage work at the end of the seventies maintained his status as a key member of the company. Director Tony Dinner again availed of him in his 1978 translation of Chekhov’s ‘Uncle Vanya’, with a central role as Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov. He was impressed enough, when the following year he offered him the pivotal part of retired businessman Adam Grant in another new work by John Boyd, a sociopolitical drama, ‘Facing North’, opposite Trudy Kelly as his wife Vera.
Although 1980 was typically industrious in terms of his Lyric appearances, perhaps his best work was below the radar with his unambiguous personation of villager John Willie Todd, in the unveiling of Wesley Burrowes’ rural comedy, ‘Affluence’, directed by Christopher Fitz-Simon, produced by the Irish Theatre Company and staged at the Convent of Mercy, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal.
During 1981/82 he chalked up his usual tally of Lyric credits, the most consequential was arguably his good-for-nothing but ethical barfly, Buckets McGuinness, in yet another premiere; Martin Lynch’s overtly political ‘Dockers’, which opened in January 1981. Among an assortment of Belfast characters were J.J. Murphy as Legs McNamara, George Shane as Jack Henry and Leila Webster as Sarah Montague.
He was used sparingly in his second screen role, when cast as James Frew in writer Maurice Leitch’s comedy drama, ‘Gates of Gold’, a BBC ‘Play for Today’ aired in March 1983. Two further television plays and a feature film supplemented a reasonable measure of stage work in 1984. He was markedly incisive as Mickey McConaghy in a revival of Hugh Quinn’s 1920s Belfast set black comedy, ‘Mrs McConaghy’s Money’ and in November of that year was fellow United Irishman James Hope, with Gerard McSorley as Henry Joy McCracken, in Stewart Parker’s post 1798 rising epic, ‘Northern Star’.
His screen CV was to prove a slight on his prodigious theatrical output, a baffling imbalance that would sustain throughout the eighties. An also-starring interest in Bernard McLaverty’s big screen ‘Troubles’ drama, ‘Cal’, with Helen Mirren and debutant John Lynch, was sandwiched between a BBC play and a television film, both written by Anne Devlin, ‘The Long March’ and ‘A Woman Calling’.
There was a distinct moderation in his Lyric engagements from 1985, but when required secured a plethora of high grade roles. These included his Carlo Marcella, father of a Maze Hunger-Striker in another new piece by Martin Lynch, ‘Minstrel Boys’ 1985. Then he was the scholarly Jimmy Jack Cassie in a revival of Brian Friel’s extolled drama ‘Translations’ in 1986 and in 1988 was the hard-headed tailor Needle Nugent in director Tom Jordan’s commendable ‘Juno and the Paycock’.
On screen he was less fortunate with the only saving grace, a median recurring role as Soup, in the BBC N.I. comedy series ‘Foreign Bodies’ 1987/89, co-written by Graham Reid and Bernard Farrell.
In September 1990, in one of his last ever appearances on his cherished Lyric stage, he squeezed as much as was possible out of his ancillary casting as the scrupulous butler Merriman, in Oscar Wilde’s farcical comedy ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, fittingly in a cast featuring another long serving Lyric Player, Trudy Kelly.
Louis Rolston was the most atypical of actors, mutually prevailing with the same company for almost forty years, creating a legion of characters, the greater majority brought credibly to life.
Other Film, Film and TV credits:
Theatre
All Lyric Theatre, Belfast
– The Magistrate (1970)
– Man of La Mancha (1972)
– The Ruling Class (1973)
– Nightfall to Belfast (1973)
– Grease(1978)
– Hobson’s Choice (1980)
– Heritage (1980)
– The Drums of Father Ned (1980)
– Spring Awakening (1980)
– My Silver Bird (1981)
– Speranza’s Boy (1982)
– Yeats in Limbo (1983)
– Tea in a China Cup (1983)
Film
– Patmos (1985)
TV
– Bergerac (1987)
– First Sight (1987)
– God’s Frontiersmen (1988)
– Screenplay (1990)
Brian Rooney
Born Belfast 2nd November 1972
Harry Rosenthal
