Brandon Coyle Interview

INTERVIEW WITH BRANDON COYLE FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

Brandon talks about the play, American versus British Theatre, and the theory of subtext.

DM) I saw "The Weir" about a week and a half ago. I admit it was one of the most unusual Broadway plays I ever saw. Most Broadway shows seem to be all special effects and glamour and what not, and it was very refreshing to see a play based more on the interaction of the characters. I was wondering, who wrote the story of "The Weir"?

BC) It was written by Connor McPherson, and this is about his fifth play. He's had a couple of hits in London. He was commissioned by the Royal Court to write this play. This came up because his grandfather is from Leachum, which is called the "Forgotten County"; it's a very bleak and remote part of west Ireland. He used to go down there as a kid, his grandfather lived on his own, and he wrote that story about loss first, and he spun the play around that. That's him and that's where it came from.

DM) According to the Playbill, a Weir is a sort of dam. What does a "Weir" really mean and what does it have to do with the play?

BC) Well, Connor would never acknowledge this, because he just wouldn't, but it's actually a metaphor for the dam. The water flows along, and flows along at a very steady rate and then just "Woosh" and opens up. She opens up and there is this whole burst of emotion and revelation....

DM) Just from the one woman character entering the play?

BC) Yeah, it's a dam, and the purpose of a dam is to hold back the flow and then, at one certain point, to release it.

DM) During the play there were some jokes and points which, to me, seemed to be almost exclusively Irish humor. I noticed that some people in the audience were just staring blindly ahead. How would you summarize or give a quick lesson on the differences between American humor and Irish humor? If it's possible, that is...

BC) I don't really know. I haven't been here long enough. It's quite difficult for USA actually. It's funny. Even in England, people would understand the characters, there's a lot of irony. We say things in a certain way just to tone the voice, and we get big laughs in London and in Dublin that we're not getting here. The humor's much darker and harder. Americans are very good at sitcoms.

DM) Do you find it very disappointing at times?

BC) It's worrying at first, but it's just a culture, it's just culturally different. What I do find disappointing is ticket prices in America, in general. Ticket prices are so prohibitive that I think all Broadway shows deny access to a truly eclectic audience. I really feel very strongly about that.

DM) How is the theatre world back home?

BC) Well, I think again, this whole thing about eclectic audiences is something we're really used to. We do a lot of plays at New Writer's Theatre, and it's up for everybody. Everybody across the board comes to see shows there because it's successful. And I think young writers are writing because plays will get done if they're good enough. For instance, in London I was doing a play; here I'm doing a show. We're part of a set menu that is Broadway. I'm not really sure about this off-Broadway thing. I've been looking at this listing, and I have to say, I think there's a much healthier scene in London. It's much more accessible to writers, actors, and the audience alike.

DM) Have you seen any American Broadway shows while you've been here?

BC) Yeah, I've seen a couple, I want to see some off Broadway stuff as well. I'm very keen to see "Sideman" as well; I've heard great things about that. I haven't seen that yet. Have you seen it?

DM) No, I've not seen it myself but I've heard good things about it.

BC) Regrettably, the only things I've seen here are the imports like "Closer" and... I'm very much looking forward to seeing "Iceman." I'm a very big fan of Kevin Spacey, so I'm looking forward to that. What I really want to do is stop talking about American theatre here. You see, we've been inspired for so many years by great American acting, so I've been very keen to see the fringe here, to see what your Broadway scene is like.

DM) Who would some of your inspirations as actors be?

BC) Al Pacino is my absolute hero. When I was in drama school, I spent a month's rent going to see him in "American Buffalo." I'd never seen anything like it. Keiran Hines is in "Closer", and he's just a terrific actor. If you've seen a body of work of Keiran's, you couldn't help but be completely inspired by him. Brian Cox is another favorite. The kind of actors I love are the kind of actors I want to be.

DM) When did you first decide you wanted to get into acting?

BC) When I saw my first play. I was 16 and I saw "Richard the Third" when I was studying Shakespeare in school, and just everything made sense. I was a butcher for about three years when I decided, "I got to get out of this."

DM) You were a butcher?

BC) Yeah, I actually worked for it for a while.

DM) Going back to the play "The Weir", it seemed as though all the actors got along offstage too.

BC) Yeah, there's a huge amount of trust and a huge amount of mutual respect. You're carried along by the act of listening to the other characters. We give such weight to what each other does, it's very crucial. We're hoping it reads here. We're used to performing this in much more intimate spaces. Active listening is the key to the success of the interaction. We listen like hell.

DM) I think that's what surprised me the most. When I walked in, it was a very stark stage. The curtains were wide open, and it was like nothing I'd seen before.

BC) I know, I know. There's a microphone in the front of the stage, and we can hear people coming in and saying, "How ugly. No set changes." That's kind of the point. It's very bleak. I've been up to that part of the world and it really is bleak, and it's kind of ugly. And it's remote and it's about loneliness. That's one of the themes of the play.

DM) I find it interesting, though, that you can hear the audience's reaction when they come in.

BC) There's a microphone at the front of the stage so that the stage manager and everyone to monitor the play. I turn it off. You can hear the people in the front two rows, you can hear their conversations. It was amusing, but we don't prefer....

DM) It must get pretty distracting at times....

BC) It's just as you're getting changed, you don't want to hear people talking about what they saw last night. We have heard a few people say, "The set is ugly". It surprises me, because it's very common for us in England; you walk in and there's the set, and the play doesn't actually begin until the lights come on. The set comes alive with histrionics and acting. We don't have curtains.

DM) What struck me most about the play was the one scene in which the character Valerie orders a glass of wine, and you pour this glass of wine and it seems to take forever. Almost like you're pouring a bottle of beer, it seems. It just struck me how long this one simple action took. I thought it was hysterical.

BC) I'm treading a fine line there. It's a classic comic moment, but it also highlights the fact that this barman has never served a class of wine before. He says, "It's not too often the wine has been flowing in here." On the one hand, you want to suggest this slight awkwardness; he thinks he knows what he's doing. He's pouring the wine, but he wants to be generous. You don't want to be too crude about it. It's kind of a fine line, that one. I enjoy treading it. (laughs)

DM) It seems throughout the whole play that it's the little things that make it. How they sit by the fire...

BC) Yes, exactly, that moment where Kieran puts a turf in the fire. We worked on that in rehearsal so the whole idea was, "I'm going to sit down next to her and try to reassure her", but to the men it looks like he's trying to move in on her. It's sort of an awkward little moment like that.

DM) When you read the script, what was it about the play that told you that you wanted to be in it?

BC) I first read it, and I know Connor is a friend of mine. I kind of had a notion that I'd be offered the part of Brendan, so I read it, and I read it objectively, and I just thought it was a beautiful play. And then I read it in terms of me as an actor and what I'm doing next. And then I had a problem in that Brendan doesn't say very much and there's these long, long tracks where Brendan isn't there. Even before I was offered the part, I was debating about whether or not I should do it, because it wasn't enough. It didn't seem to be enough. So then I reread it, and I read it for them, and then I went back and they asked me to read for Finbar. Finbar's the big realtor, the property owner who brings her in. And I read it three or four times, and I became so attached to the notion of playing Brendan that when the role of Brendan was lost, I read it again and again, and I thought, "I have to do this, no matter what. I have to do this play." I rang, "Yes, yes, I'll do Finbar, but it's a shame but I thought you were going to offer me the part of Brendan and I really like the part of Brendan." And they said, "Oh, we didn't think you'd play Brendan, so we'd like you to play Brendan." I went, "Okay, I'll play Brendan", so I went for it.

DM) What was it about Brendan attracted you?

BC) The enigma of Brendan. The fact that he doesn't tell a story. So that made me start saying, "Why doesn't he tell a story, and therefore what is his story, and can I make him have a story-- an internal story that makes him interesting to the audience." And I thought he could.

DM) So what do you see his role as?

BC) His role is a facilitator. Like Prospero in this play. He creates the circumstance in which the whole evening unfolds. He's a facilitator in that sense. And I think he does tell a story when he talks. His attachment to this land, where the fairy fort is. He has a sentimental attachment to this area. His sisters are pressuring him to sell it, and I think there's an interesting story. When he talks at the end of his being lonely, his parents are dead, his two friends desert him and leave him to the Germans. I think that's a story. I think he's very awkward with this young woman. He doesn't know how to behave. But at the very end of the play he suddenly becomes more capable than any of them in taking care of her and knowing what is right. He's the one that stands up and says, "I'll take her home." He's the only one that really truly embraces her; she's yearning to be embraced and held and taken care of, and I think he's the only one who does that in any kind of competent way. He grows as a result of what she says. And I think that's his story. Brendan's got a lot of stories, and he's much more succinct in telling them.

DM) Do you think it's implied at the end that Brendan takes the woman home?

BC) It's a lovely thing. It's something that everyone in the audience picks up on. What is in the script is in the script. We've developed a sub-text where there is a natural... it just seems to be there. Connor would never be as crude as to state that, but there seems to be something there. And again, it's one of those fine lines that we love treading. And we allude to the fact that there is something between them. They just seem to connect in some way. He seems to be more capable of taking care of her than the others, and she seems drawn to him. The whole play is phenomenally sub- textual. What people see in real life and in drama is much more interesting than what they reveal. There's a lot of stuff going on between those two that doesn't say, and we just touch on it like butterflies.

DM) I have to thank you very much for taking the time out to speak with me.

BC) No, my pleasure.