The Lunch Punch Power Hour: Fionn Foley on office life, unhinged
"What do you do yourself anyway?"
A perfunctory question we've all been asked at some point by a taxi driver, barber or a silence-averse uncle at a family gathering. For actors, it's a tense moment. Do you tell the truth and in doing so, open the conversation up to a wide-ranging series of follow-ups that include but are not limited to:
1) Do people give you money in exchange for doing that?
2) Would I know you from anything? (this one induces existential crisis instantly)
3) Would you, in fact, give 'the ads' a go? (followed by specific brand suggestions)
4) Are you one of the Gleeson brothers? (you're usually not)
"I'm a chartered accountant" I say. And what starts off as a sad attempt at stifling what would no doubt be a well-meaning interrogation of craft evolves into a daring attempt to pass myself off as a gentleman of numbers. A chance to live in the skin of another - like what Daniel Day Lewis would do if he returned to the screen in a film about chartered accountants. However, I am wearing a bright blue bomber jacket, floral shirt and my hairstyle adds four inches to my heightso the taxi driver/barber/uncle has not believed a second of the masquerade.
I am about to play Daniel in Caitríona Daly's The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4 on the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre. Daniel is a Senior Associate at Gresham Professional Services, a hedge fund management firm. He's a thirty-something Offaly man who found himself ascending the totem pole of corporate finance with minimal levels of effort and interest. He's always felt uncomfortable in Dublin, yet he'd be seen as a jackeen in the midlands and this crisis of identity has caused him to start behaving erratically. Like his colleagues Clodagh, Jess and HR Lady Susan (played by the superb Caoimhe O'Malley, Emma Dargan-Reid and Helen Norton respectively) he is only now starting to lift the veil that corporate strictures have placed on his life.
Theatre-wise, I've been lucky enough in recent years to be able to focus on writing (and sometimes performing in) my own work and have been living in London for the last year with my wife and a very large bird-of-paradise plant. However, within minutes of reading Caitríona's deeply funny and intelligent play I knew it was a unique opportunity to be part of work that embodies everything I love about theatre; high comedy, sharp satire and characters that feel real in surreal circumstances. You could say it would have been the perfect chance to perfect my 'chartered accountant-type' persona, but as it turns out, there is no such thing. The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4 follows four individuals that have the same hopes and dreams, faults and failings as everyone else - but are bound together in a corporate system that can only succeed when they are ground down to faceless, homogenized employees. When they reject it, the fun really starts.
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RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
The Lunch Punch Power Hour: Fionn Foley on office life, unhinged
'I knew it was a unique opportunity to be part of work that embodies everything I love about theatre; high comedy, sharp satire and characters that feel real in surreal circumstances...' Actor Fionn Foley introduces Caitríona Daly's new play The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4, coming to the coming to the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre from 31 July. "What do you do yourself anyway?" A perfunctory question we've all been asked at some point by a taxi driver, barber or a silence-averse uncle at a family gathering. For actors, it's a tense moment. Do you tell the truth and in doing so, open the conversation up to a wide-ranging series of follow-ups that include but are not limited to: 1) Do people give you money in exchange for doing that? 2) Would I know you from anything? (this one induces existential crisis instantly) 3) Would you, in fact, give 'the ads' a go? (followed by specific brand suggestions) 4) Are you one of the Gleeson brothers? (you're usually not) "I'm a chartered accountant" I say. And what starts off as a sad attempt at stifling what would no doubt be a well-meaning interrogation of craft evolves into a daring attempt to pass myself off as a gentleman of numbers. A chance to live in the skin of another - like what Daniel Day Lewis would do if he returned to the screen in a film about chartered accountants. However, I am wearing a bright blue bomber jacket, floral shirt and my hairstyle adds four inches to my heightso the taxi driver/barber/uncle has not believed a second of the masquerade. I am about to play Daniel in Caitríona Daly's The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4 on the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre. Daniel is a Senior Associate at Gresham Professional Services, a hedge fund management firm. He's a thirty-something Offaly man who found himself ascending the totem pole of corporate finance with minimal levels of effort and interest. He's always felt uncomfortable in Dublin, yet he'd be seen as a jackeen in the midlands and this crisis of identity has caused him to start behaving erratically. Like his colleagues Clodagh, Jess and HR Lady Susan (played by the superb Caoimhe O'Malley, Emma Dargan-Reid and Helen Norton respectively) he is only now starting to lift the veil that corporate strictures have placed on his life. Theatre-wise, I've been lucky enough in recent years to be able to focus on writing (and sometimes performing in) my own work and have been living in London for the last year with my wife and a very large bird-of-paradise plant. However, within minutes of reading Caitríona's deeply funny and intelligent play I knew it was a unique opportunity to be part of work that embodies everything I love about theatre; high comedy, sharp satire and characters that feel real in surreal circumstances. You could say it would have been the perfect chance to perfect my 'chartered accountant-type' persona, but as it turns out, there is no such thing. The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4 follows four individuals that have the same hopes and dreams, faults and failings as everyone else - but are bound together in a corporate system that can only succeed when they are ground down to faceless, homogenized employees. When they reject it, the fun really starts.
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Irish Independent
Barmy, chaotic comedy tackles the world of corporate philanthropy
'The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4' on the Peacock Stage, Abbey Theatre is clever and bamboozling but perhaps too unruly to fully take a deep dive into the serious themes it explores The Irish business world is having a moment on the Dublin stage, with this absurdist frolic into corporate shenanigans following on from Sugarglass's production of Molière at Smock Alley. Caitríona Daly's new play has a lot going for it, but it only really gets into its stride towards the end. The play follows two senior colleagues and a roped-in recent hire having a meeting to determine what a social responsibility budget surplus should be spent on. Executive assistant Clodagh (Caoimhe O'Malley) wants it spent on saving the bees. Working-from-home executive Daniel (Fionn Foley) wants it spent on his daughter's Offaly GAA club. Jess, the recently hired receptionist (Emma Dargan-Reid), is mainly trying to find her feet and not get fired. And Susan (Helen Norton), the HR head, is hovering outside the room, trying to gain access through the locked door.
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3 days ago
- RTÉ News
Tributes paid to Strumpet City star Frank Grimes
Tributes have been paid to the Dublin actor Frank Grimes, best known for his roles in Strumpet City and Coronation Street, following his death at the age of 78. The Irish Cultural Centre (ICC) in Hammersmith, London, announced Frank Grimes's passing after a short illness. It described him as "a dearly loved friend of the ICC" and one of Ireland's "truly great actors". In its tribute, the ICC said: "Frank Grimes was born in Dublin, he trained at the Abbey Theatre, and was a member of the Abbey Players. "He scored an early success as Brendan Behan in Borstal Boy at the Abbey in Dublin, Paris, and on Broadway, where he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor and was voted Most Promising Actor by the New York critics." "Frank worked extensively in the theatre in London; at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court and in London's West End," it continued. On television, Frank Grimes was hailed for his role as the naive, young priest Father O'Connor in the RTÉ adaptation of James Plunkett's Strumpet City, winning a Jacobs Award for his performance. His other television credits included playing Barry Connor in Coronation Street and roles in Mrs Brown's Boys, Doctors, Casualty, Fair City, The Bill, and Blind Justice, among many more. His film credits included A Bridge Too Far, When the Sky Falls, War of the Buttons, and Britannia Hospital. Frank Grimes also wrote and starred in the one-man show The He & The She of It - A Portrait of James Joyce. "We are so sad to have to say goodbye to Frank, but we are also so blessed to have known him, to have worked with him, and seen him perform," the Irish Cultural Centre concluded. "We send our sincere condolences to his wife Ginnette, his daughter Tilly, his son Andrew, his 7 grandchildren, and to all his extended family." Paying tribute, Gerry O'Brien, president of the actors' union Irish Equity, described Frank Grimes as "a fine performer who brought a sense of vulnerability and, as a result, a humanity to all his performances".
