Cork Don Wycherley on playing Paddy Armstrong of the Guildford Four
Cork actor Don Wycherley can remember clearly where he was on the day that the Guildford Four were released from prison having been wrongfully convicted in 1975 at London's Old Bailey, of bombings carried out by the IRA.
Wycherley, who is touring a one-man show on one of the four, Paddy Armstrong, was in a pub near St Patrick's Teacher Training College in Drumcondra celebrating his graduation from there with friends on October 19, 1989.
'On comes the telly with the news that the Guildford Four were getting out after fifteen years incarceration,' says Wycherley. Little did he know that he would take on the role of Armstrong rather than work full-time as a teacher.
The play, Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong, was written by writer and documentary maker Mary-Elaine Tynan, Wycherley, and Fair City writer, Niamh Gleeson. (Tynan co-authored Armstrong's bestselling memoir, Life After Life.) It took a while to convince Wycherley to become involved in the one-man show.
'Mary-Elaine gave me the book to read. It was amazing, a roller coaster of a man's life. I used to see Paddy around Clontarf where he lives with his wife Caroline. [The couple have two children.] I live nearby.
Paddy Armstrong of the Guildford Four.
"I said that the book is amazing but the biggest problem I'd have doing a one-man show was the question as to why I'd be talking to an audience. I was kicking the can down the road. I thought the first draft of the play was good but it was too much like a summary of the book.'
Wycherley was asked if he'd like to meet Armstrong. That sealed the deal regarding his involvement in the play.
'I first met Paddy in 2023. He's a very relaxed, funny, charismatic individual. I started calling to him on Saturday mornings. It wasn't difficult to get the stories out of Paddy. When he went a little dark, his default setting was to be humorous and to kind of evade the difficult questions.
"It was his sense of humour that helped inform the play in many ways.
"If we had just gone with the tough stuff that happened and the awful way his life went, people would get no relief. I don't think there would be as many people coming to the play.
"What people have been saying is that it's an uplifting piece with huge highs and lows. Laughter is very much there. I'm glad we got to the essence of him. He is always looking for the gag. That's how I think he survived his time in prison.
"There's only two of the four left, Paddy and Paul Hill. Paddy is certainly not bitter in terms of English people, and the way people reacted to what was being said by the police who concocted the evidence.'
Wycherley (57), who is originally from Skibbereen, was first put on the stage by one of the teaching brothers at St Fachtna's De La Salle College.
'It was for a Chah and Miah skit. I remember fizzing up Coke to make it look like Guinness. I was supposed to be having a pint, talking about the topics of the day. I remember the clapping at the end of it and I thought that was interesting.'
It was while teaching in another De La Salle school in Finglas that Wycherley was asked by the principal to put on a Christmas show. 'I really enjoyed that. It brought me back to the sense of joy I got from being on stage. I did a course in acting at weekends but I didn't like it because it was killing my social life.' However, when Wycherley saw that the Gaiety School of Acting was offering a full-time one year course in acting, he successfully auditioned for it.
'It was an itch I wanted to scratch. The principal said to me to go for it and that the job would be there if I wanted it after the year.'
After starring in a play, Away Alone, at the Peacock Theatre, directed by Fionnuala Flanagan, the then artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, Garry Hynes, offered Wycherley and three other actors full time contracts.
The die was cast and Wycherley has had a successful acting career, interspersed with subbing work as a teacher during lean times. "It worked out nicely for me. That said, other actors would be chasing Hollywood. At my age, I'm just chasing a good script,' says this actor, writer and sometime teacher.
Paddy: The Life & Times of Paddy Armstrong is at the Everyman on May 30-31. See www.everymancork.com
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Eileen Walsh: Women actors ‘are like avocados. You're nearly ready, nearly ready - then you're ripe, then you've gone off'
What is the longest period of time you have sat in a venue watching a piece of theatre? Three hours? Four? Maybe six for some rare double or triple bill? Well, from 4pm on Saturday, June 14th to 4pm the following day, actor Eileen Walsh will be spending 24 hours on stage at the Cork Opera House , in a one-off performance of The Second Woman. This is an Irish premiere of the show, running during Cork Midsummer Festival , and a co-production with the Cork Opera House. It was originally created in 2017 by Australians Anna Breckon and Nat Randall, and has been performed in various cities around the world, including Sydney, New York and London. The show is described as 'a durational theatre experience', which sounds about right if you are a member of the audience, but how will the person holding everything together on stage for 24 hours manage to endure in this truly epic role? 'I've done 72 hours in labour,' Walsh says matter-of-factly, as she looks through the lunch menu at Dublin's College Green Hotel. 'You stay awake when you have to.' READ MORE The place is busy and noisy, and there is a particularly loud group sitting in the banquette behind me. As we start talking, I fret a little that my recorder won't pick up Walsh's voice amid the general din of cutlery and lunchtime clamour. But later, when I play back the recording, every word of hers is in there, perfectly clear. Of course it is; it's the voice of an actor, trained to enunciate and carry; to cut through all the noise. Walsh is in an orange singlet and black trouser suit, her dark hair in a ponytail. I know what age she is (48, I've done my research) but if I didn't, I couldn't tell by looking at her enviable chameleon face. The question of age is relevant because this theme is woven through The Second Woman, and her character of Virginia. 'Her age is never mentioned,' Walsh says. 'But it's very much about age and ageing, and about how men see us women.' Walsh has been acting for all of her adult life; in theatre, film and TV. Some of her recent appearances were opposite her old friend Cillian Murphy in the adaptation of Claire Keegan's novella, Small Things Like These ; and in Chris O'Dowd's streaming series Small Town, Big Story . The question is, how is she going to prepare for her latest, and longest, performance? 'I don't know if you can prepare for it, because it is all such an unknown,' she says. 'Part of the preparing for it is a bit like letting go, and trusting in the process. Even if you had done it before, it is an unknown because it would be 100 new situations and 100 new people.' Eileen Walsh: Being a mother is so difficult because you are being constantly pulled. Photograph Nick Bradshaw Walsh will not be alone on stage. Her character Virginia plays the same scene 100 times, each lasting seven minutes, each with a different male character, all called Marty, 100 Martys in total. In Cork, as in other cities where the show has been performed, the Martys are mostly amateurs, with some professionals in the mix. Will there be anyone famous? 'I think there are surprises,' Walsh says cautiously. 'I think it will be a mix of people I have worked with before, and who are interested in the theme of the project. But I don't know, and I won't know until I see them on stage on the night – if there are any. The last thing I want is to spend 24 hours wondering if Liam Neeson is coming.' Or indeed, Cillian Murphy. Or Chris O'Dowd. The core of the lines spoken by each character in each scene stays the same, but the scene itself has the possibility of opening in various different ways. The male character, by improvising, can choose what kind of relationship he wants to have with Virginia. None will have rehearsed with Walsh, so until each scene starts, she will have no idea which back story the person playing opposite her will choose. 'The opening of the scene is a window of opportunity for them to say something along the lines of 'As your brother,' if they don't want any romantic interaction. Or, 'As your dad,' or, 'As your friend.' So they can set their own parameters if they want to. Essentially it is all about relationships.' Stage directions allow for various kinds of action, and little pieces of physical exercise and respite for the actor. 'There's an opportunity to have a dance, there's an opportunity to have a drink, there's an opportunity to sit or to eat. You get an opportunity to sit down briefly, but other than that you are on the go. It's very physical. Then there is an opportunity at the end of each scene for the participant to choose to end the interaction in a positive or negative way. As much as my character is having a monumental breakdown, the men remain main characters in their lives all the time.' Walsh does the scene seven times, with some minutes at the end of each hour to reset the stage again. 'The props might have been moved, the drink might have been spilt. You stay on stage the whole time while that is happening, and then every few hours there's a comfort break, to have a pee, or fix make-up.' In The Second Woman Eileen Walsh plays the same scene 100 times, each lasting seven minutes, each with a different male character, all called Marty, 100 Martys in total. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw When the show was performed in London at the Young Vic in 2023, Walsh queued for three hours to watch a three-hour slot. 'We had to wait for people coming out to be able to buy tickets,' she explains. Walsh had no idea that two years later, she herself would be playing this extraordinary role. How do you rehearse for such a role? 'The rehearsal process is two weeks, and by day two you are working with four actors in turn. They will give me a flavour of what to do if someone freezes on the night, or if they are going on too long.' These actors won't be appearing in the performance; they will be trying to work through some of the different possible variations of the same seven-minute scene. But no element of preparation will come close to replicating what the actual night of performance will bring. Both Breckon and Randall will be coming over to Cork from Australia for the rehearsals, and to see her 24-hour performance. The Second Woman will be Cork-born Walsh's first major stage role in Ireland since returning from Britain last October. She lived there for some 30 years, first with husband Stuart McCaffer, and then as a family with their children, Tippi and Ethel. It's impossible to see acting as a life choice in Ireland now. How do you get a mortgage? Have kids? I don't know how young actors do it — Eileen Walsh 'Tippi is 19 and was born in Edinburgh.' (She's named for Tippi Hedren, now 95, who famously appeared in Hitchcock's The Birds; mother of Melanie Griffith, grandmother of Dakota Johnson.) 'I had watched The Birds, and thought Tippi was such a lovely name,' Walsh says. 'Ethel was born in London and she is 16. The girls were partly responsible for us moving back. Tippi was really interested in coming back and maybe doing drama school here. And we found a lovely school for Ethel. It kind of made sense.' When I ask if her children will be going to see the show, Walsh says her rehearsal time in Cork coincides with Ethel's Junior Cert. She thus won't be available at home for reassuring in-person hugs with her exam student. 'Being a mother is so difficult because you are being constantly pulled.' Tippi and Ethel have a better understanding and tolerance of parents being temporarily absent for work than most of their peers, having been raised in a household with two creative parents (McCaffer is a sculptor). After being away from Ireland for 30 years, both the paucity of available housing and the cost of it was a deep shock to Walsh when they returned. 'Looking for a rental for two adults and two kids, the costs were eye watering. Not only could we not get in the door for a lot of places, but the costs involved in trying to rent a two-bedroom flat while we were looking for a house were crazy. 'The costs are crippling. Dublin is laughing in the face of London when it comes to housing prices.' They did eventually find somewhere. 'We bought a wreck of a house we are desperately trying to do up.' Walsh wonders aloud how actors in Ireland today, especially in Dublin, are managing to develop a professional career while also finding affordable housing. 'I moved out of home at 17 and it was possible to pay your rent – and also have a great time. It is just not possible any more, and I don't know how younger versions of me are coping now. 'Financially it's having the result of turning acting into a middle-class profession, because what young kids from a working class background can afford to hire rehearsal space and to live within Dublin? It's impossible to see acting as a life choice in Ireland now. How do you get a mortgage? Have kids? I don't know how young actors do it. Besides, of course, moving away from Ireland.' Eileen Walsh: 'I moved out of home at 17 and it was possible to pay your rent and also have a great time ... I don't know how younger versions of me are coping now.' Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Back in 1996, when Walsh was still a student, she was cast in the role of Runt opposite Cillian Murphy as Pig in Enda Walsh's seminal then new play, Disco Pigs. (The two Walshes are not related.) The whole thing was a sensational success for all three of them, and burnished their names brightly. When the film version was cast a few years later, Murphy remained in the role of Pig, while Elaine Cassidy was given the role of Runt. Walsh said at the time she didn't even know the auditions were being held. It's a topic that has come up over and over again in interviews during the intervening years, the What If's around that casting. It's clear that Walsh was deeply hurt. She was 'heartbroken' at the decision to not cast her in this role that she had first brought to life. One can only imagine the strain it put on her friendship with Murphy at the time, for a start. It must also have been difficult for Elaine Cassidy to keep hearing publicly how something that was nothing to do with her had so affected the morale of another fellow actor. 'I feel like I've spoken a lot about that,' Walsh says now. 'It was a lesson for me very early on. And it wasn't the first or the last time I got bad news. And just because the role was yours doesn't mean it stays yours. They are heartbreaking things to learn. Or if someone says they want you for a job and then they change their mind, that's a f***ing killer as well. It's not something that gets better with age. It just burns more, because the opportunities are better, so the burn is greater.' [ From the archive: Cillian Murphy and Eileen Walsh on 'Disco Pigs': 'It was the ignorance of youth' Opens in new window ] At this point in our conversation, there are a number of other expletives scattered by Walsh, as if this old and sad wound has triggered some kind of latent, but still important, emotion. We talk for a while about how ageing in the acting profession – wherever one is located in the world – frequently works against women in a way it does not against men. 'I think women are constantly being told that for men, acting is a marathon and for women it's a sprint, because you have a short time to make an impact. You're like an avocado,' she says. I ask her to repeat that last word, unsure if I've heard it correctly. 'Avocado,' she says firmly. 'You're nearly ready, nearly ready – then you're ripe, then you've gone off. That's what you're made to feel like. Do it now, while you're lovely and young and your boobs are still upright, or whatever, While you're taut. And I think that is a total f***ing lie. It might be a marathon for men, but to remain in this business as a woman, it's like a decathlon. You have to f***ing go and go and go and it takes tenaciousness and being stubborn and strident to know your values. 'Men are allowed to feel old and to be seen like a fine wine, whereas I think for women it just takes so much boldness to stay in this profession as you age. And also to play parts where you don't have to always be the f***ing mother or the disappointed wife.' Eileen Walsh as Eileen Furlong in Small Things Like These. Photograph: Enda Bowe In the last year, Walsh has appeared in three significant screen productions: Small Things Like These; Say Nothing , the Disney + adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe's book about the Troubles in Northern Ireland in which she plays Bridie Dolan, the aunt of Dolours and Marian Price who was blinded in a bomb-making accident; and Small Town, Big Story in the role of Catherine, a wheelchair user who is having a steamy affair with a colleague. In Small Things Like These, she co-stars with Oscar-winning Cillian Murphy, three decades on from Disco Pigs. 'A long circle completed,' she says. [ Small Things Like These: Cillian Murphy's performance is fiercely internalised in a film emblematic of a changing Ireland Opens in new window ] Claire Keegan's novella is set in 1985 in Co Wexford, and focuses on what happens when Bill Furlong, a fuel merchant, husband to Eileen Furlong and father of five daughters, discovers what is going on at the local convent, which is also a laundry that serves the town. Murphy – whom she calls Cill – contacted her when she was playing Elizabeth Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible at the National Theatre in London. He asked her to read the script for Small Things, which Enda Walsh had written. 'I know that Cill as producer was very intent on working with people he knows and loves and worked with previously and had kind of relationships with. The whole movie was spotted with friends and long-time collaborators.' After she had read the script, she went to meet director Tim Mielants. She and Murphy 'had to do something similar to a chemistry meet. That meeting was filmed when we worked on some scenes together.' Small Things Like These: Eileen Walsh as Eileen Furlong and Cillian Murphy as Bill Furlong. Photograph: Enda Bowe/Lionsgate The two play the married couple in the movie, Bill and Eileen Furlong. 'It's a very tired relationship. They are a long time into the marriage, and they are very used to each other, so it's a no chemistry-chemistry meet, if that makes sense.' Walsh got the part. I remind her of what she has said earlier in the interview about being fed up of playing roles of mothers and disappointed wives, which one could see as a fair description of her role of Eileen Furlong. This role, Walsh makes clear, was very different from any kind of generic cliche of playing a mother or wife. 'Playing Eileen, she wasn't a put-upon wife, but was a mirror of what an awful lot of women were like at that time in Ireland. [ Irish Times readers pick Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These as the best Irish book of the 21st century Opens in new window ] 'Claire Keegan's writing is such a gift to any actor. Claire's story behind everybody is very dark. Nobody gets an easy ride with a Claire Keegan character, and that's a real draw to any actor. She doesn't soft soap anything. For me to play that character, to play Eileen, meant I saw so much of my own mother and the women that I grew up underneath, [women] I grew up looking up to. It was a hard time. They were trying to make money stretch very hard, at a time when dinners would have to be simple and very much planned to the last slice of bread. They were not women spouting rainbows.' As it happens, Walsh's next big upcoming role after the Cork Midsummer Festival will be that of Jocasta, Oedipus's mother, in Marina Carr's new play, The Boy. It will open at the Abbey in the autumn as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. She'll play a mother in this interpretation of a Greek myth, certainly, but again, no ordinary one. Rehearsals start in July. [ From the archive: Eileen Walsh: How I reconcile motherhood with playing Medea Opens in new window ] Meanwhile, back to her modern-day Greek marathon in Cork this month. Due to the length of the show, there are a variety of ticket types the public can avail of. You can buy a ticket for the entire 24 hours, and either stay at the venue for the whole time or leave and return. On return, you may have to queue again and wait for a seat to become free. Other tickets are being sold for scheduled time slots for a number of hours. If you choose to come for the 2am slot, for instance, you'll pay a bit less for your ticket. There will also be some tickets available at the door, although it's likely you'll have to queue. There will be pop-up food and drink venues in the foyer to provide sustenance. The Cork Opera House has a capacity of 1,000 seats. If those seats keep turning over a during the 24 hours, thousands of people will have an opportunity to see this remarkable highlight of Cork Midsummer Festival: truly a night like no other this year in Ireland.
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From Saoirse to Aisling and Cillian to Liam, Irish names surge in popularity
Irish names are having a surge of popularity, with the likes of Caoimhe, Fiadh, Tadhg and Rian in the Top 20 every year. And some of our biggest celebrities have Irish names, such as Cillian Murphy and Saoirse Ronan. But often, Gaelic names and spellings are hard for those from elsewhere to get their tongue around. Now a new book gives the stories behind these names - and explains how to say them. Irish Baby Names: What They Mean And How To Pronounce Them, explains the provenance and pronunciation of girls names like Beibhinn, Blaithin and Croia; and ones for boys such as Turlach, Conall and Senan. Authors Feilim O'Connor, Morgan Buckley and Gavin Drea's compilation of more than 200 names is like a compendium for new parents, looking for something special. Chapters include Misprounounced Names and those from mythology and geography; as well as names from wilder times in Ireland and those that have been somewhat lost in time. Wild names include Cliodhna, which means Queen of the Banshees: "a dark, female ghost of the night in Ireland" while those from mythology include Brigid, after the goddess and member of the Tuatha De Danann. Eimear was the wife of Cu Chulainn, while Sadhbh, an ancient figure who was twice turned into a deer by a wicked druid for refusing his advances. She chose Fionn Mac Cumhaill instead, and her son Oisin's name means "little deer". Fiachra is the Irish word for raven, and one of the four children of Lir. Geographically-themed names include Gobnait, a saint who protected her abbey from a group of raiders when she unleashed bees on them. Her church can still be found on the island of Inis Oirr. Turlach refers to a lake that dries up in summer, while Iarlaith (Jarlath in English) comes from the old word "flaith" which means leader or lord. It's named after the priest who founded the monastic school of Tuam. Popular Irish names now include Alannah, which comes from the Irish word for child; Croia, which means heart; and Aisling - such as Aisling Bea - which means vision. Those of us who did Irish in school will never need a guide to pronunciation. But for those who do, the book makes it easy, with the likes of Tadhg explained as: "like Tiger, with out the R" and Caoimhin provided phonetically as "Kwee-veen". The book looks at popular Irish names today, the top names over the years and stories behind surnames. The book reads: "Irish names - they're older than the Pyramids, and they'll probably be mispronounced for another 5,000 years. "We're bringing you back before Christianity came to these shores, to rediscover Irish names from an ancient Ireland of mystery, magic and mythos. "It's the greatest gift you can give a child, whatever the future holds." The authors explain: "There are quite a few girls' names in Irish that translate to beauty and a lot of boys' names linked to bravery. "Digging a little deeper, you'll find references to the landscape, wild animals and ancient Irish sovereignty. "Throughout the annals, there are countless heroes who have kept these names alive." Lots of Irish celebrities have Irish names. Here are some, and their meanings: Aisling (Ash-ling) Means dream or vision. Cillian (Killy-in) Comes from the Irish word cillin, meaning little church. Saoirse (Seer-shuh) This has a lovely meaning behind it, standing for both liberty and craftsmanship. Liam (Lee-am) Liams are protectors. A shortened version of the old Germanic name Willhelm, which means helmet of will. From the Irish word seal (ron), Ronan translates into little seal or seal person. According to Irish legend, selkies transform into humans when they swim too close to the shore. Once human, they sometimes marry and have children, who are known as Ronans. Roisin (Roe-Sheen) This beautiful name means "little rose". In Irish mythology, the Roisin Dubh was the symbol on the robes of the Druids of Ireland, an ancient and high-ranking class who were considered godlike because of their knowledge of nature. Aidan (Ay-din) or Aodhan (Ay-dawn) Means little fire, coming from the old Irish word for fire, aodh. Aodhan Mac Gabhrain was a first-Century Celtic king. Sinead (Shin-ade) Means: "god is gracious". Colleen Part of the reason this is more popular outside Ireland than in Ireland itself is that this spelling is an Anglicisation of the word for girl - cailin. Popular with second and third generation Irish emigrants. Donnacha - or Donncha (Done-ah-kah). Means: "brown-haired warrior" and was the name of a famous High King. Irish Baby Names: What they mean and how to pronounce them by Feilim O'Connor, Morgan Buckley and Gavin Drea is published by Gill and is out now, priced €16.99. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
