NEXT WEEK sees Galway’s Mephisto Theatre Company grace the Town Hall main stage with its welcome revival of Bryan McMahon’s powerful, though seldom seen, play The Honey Spike.
The Honey Spike charts the epic journey of a Traveller family across Ireland, in a race against time from the Giants’ Causeway to their native Kerry, so that expectant mother Breda Claffey can have her child in the hospital where she herself was born.
Making his professional debut in the role of Breda’s husband Martin Claffey, is young actor Emmet Byrne. Over an afternoon coffee he described how he landed the role and his impressions of the play.
Byrne is currently in the final year of an arts degree at NUIG and it was with Dramsoc that he first acquired the acting bug.
“I only got into acting two years ago in Dramsoc,” he relates. “I had a few small roles in plays then I got a good role in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and I got absolutely hooked. Dramsoc really got me going and they nurtured me.”
Byrne hails from County Laois – co-incidentally Emma O’Grady, who plays Breda, is also a Laois native – but it was in Glasgow that he made the connection with Mephisto that led to him landing the role of Martin Claffey.
“Myself and my girlfriend went to Glasgow to see a gig and while we were there we went to a local theatre and Mephisto were there with Grenades.” he explains. “I went to say ‘Hello’ and I ended up hanging out with the company on their last night. I got into an argument during a conversation with Caroline Lynch [Honey Spike director] but she said afterwards that’s what ‘pegged’ her about me being a possible for the part. The lighting designer Mike O’Halloran told me they were looking for someone for the play so I went for an audition and got the role.”
Byrne goes on to share his thoughts on the character of Martin Claffey and the world of the play.
“I think Martin is adventurous which is why he brings Breda all the way up to the North to begin with,” he says, “but Oein de Bhraduin, who does The Barefoot Pavee blog and has been advising us on Traveller lore, told us that it would be really unusual for a husband to take his wife on such a journey so Martin is probably also a bit careless.”
The play is not only full of vividly-rendered incident and drama, it also offers a rich insight into the world of Traveller life.
“Bryan McMahon was well versed in Traveller culture,” Byrne states, “and Oein has been giving us these fascinating details about things in the play we might think are small but are actually quite significant. For instance there’s a whole thing about pointing at someone; Travellers don’t point with one finger unless they’re cursing someone.”
Byrne is looking forward to further acting roles after The Honey Spike so the play may well mark the start of a professional journey for him that mirrors the epic trek made by Martin Claffey in the play.
The Honey Spike runs at the Town Hall from Tuesday August 9 to Saturday 13 at 8pm nightly. Tickets are available from the Town Hall on 091 - 569777 and www.tht.ie
