A small number of people came together in a room above the Wheatsheaf pub Walsall to watch Adam & Paul, Sis and Twinkle Twinkle on 28th June 2014 before we were privy to conversation between Mark O’Halloran and Deborah Haywood. We listened to what had influenced the filmmakers such as people who lived near Deborah as a child who seemed a bit ‘different’ and Mark’s time living in the centre of Dublin where he saw heroin addicts for the first time. ‘Junkies’ ‘queers’ and ‘tinkers’ are labels that stop us considering real people said Mark and he described how the people love their children and how he would not be able to perfect some of their antics even after studying mime. In other words, he creates humanity in his characters. People are not their addictions he believes and “nobody asked how Laurel and Hardy became homeless”. The lack of backstory is what Walsall Arts Fest organiser Carolyn Bayliss likes about Adam & Paul. We are not spoonfed stories of abuse and we are left to take from the work what we want. That is the same with Sis as we look at group behaviour when it is thought that a ‘paedo’ is living up the road. For Walsall, a real treat. Mark O’Halloran has recently done 4 weeks as Malvolio in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare at Ireland’s national theatre, the Abbey in Dublin. He is also working with Fiona Tan on a film and he is known for his ability to take on challenging material such as Trade an intimate theatre piece performed in a hotel room in Dublin where a married man and a young rent boy meet. Deborah Haywood is working on Pin Cushion a feature film about a woman who has had more pricks than a pin cushion. The list of awards that the filmmakers have between them is as long as my arm. Carolyn Bayliss 5th July 2014
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 09:24:05 +0000
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