After a busy run in The Gaiety Theatre, Martin McDonagh's first England-set play is in The Black Box in Galway this week until Saturday April 15.
Typical of McDonagh's style which champions eclectic characters in an unassuming small town environment, the dark comedy is set in a pub in Oldham, where Harry is something of a local celebrity. But what’s the second-best hangman in England to do on the day they’ve abolished hanging? Amongst the local reporters and sycophantic pub regulars dying to hear Harry’s reaction to the news, a peculiar stranger lurks, with a very different motive for his visit.
Young actor Olivia Byrne, who is making her theatrical debut, plays Shirley, Harry's daughter. What does she make of her character? "I would describe her as visually, the only piece of colour onstage. She starts out very shy, but then goes through a loss of innocence when she meets Mr. Mooney (played by Killian Scott ). She has been so much fun to play, because she's very funny. There is a lot happening and these big things at stake, and she is blindly unaware because she's just in her own world."
Olivia, who trained in Bow Street Academy, has never acted onstage before. It must be quite a different experience to screen acting? She says: "I'm learning on my feet all the time. One of the biggest things you need to get your head around is how to project your voice. It has been a completely new and amazing experience for me. Everyone has been so nice and patient, giving me advice and talking me through it."
Olivia experienced a great moment at 17 when she was cast in Irish drug-heist comedy, Pixie, also starring Olivia Cooke, Colm Meaney and Alec Baldwin. Released in 2020, it was branded "Father Ted-meets-Tarantino, with a smattering of Ferris Bueller and In Bruges" by The Guardian. It was after this, and a few more auditions, that Casting Director Maureen Hughes asked to see Olivia for Hangmen. Olivia says: "I did one audition for Hangmen, and then it all happened very fast. It was a daunting prospect to audition for a Martin McDonagh play - he's so well known and I knew how particular he is about casting, but I unexpectedly got the role relatively quickly. Maureen trusted me with it, which I'm grateful for."
Had Olivia an interest in theatre growing up? She says: "I've always loved the theatre. My mum and I usually try and take a yearly trip to London to see a show on the West End. I find it to be a great escape.
My mum tells this story of when I was three, and she took me to see a panto with my older brother. She thought I would hate it because I was so young, but she said the second the curtain went up and the lights went on, I stood up and put my hands out like I was seeing God! I stood and watched the entire panto like that." Certainly a sign of the passion to come!
Limited tickets are still available for the matinee performance this Saturday, April 15 from tht.ie
