For a man who has been an actor his whole life, Macdara Ó Fátharta certainly does not like to be in the spotlight off-stage. He keeps a very low profile. But, then again, his achievements speak for themselves.

A native of Inis Meáin, Macdara was a member of the renowned Abbey Theatre Company for 23 years, has been a Ros na Rún regular since it began and this year features in Ireland’s entry for the Foreign Language Category of the Oscars: Song of Granite.

An Irish-language film, Song of Granite premiered recently at the Galway Film Fleadh and has been well received by critics thus far. It tells the life story of famed sean nós singer Joe Heaney. In the film, Joe is portrayed by three different actors: a young Joe, a middle-aged Joe and an elder Joe, whom Macdara plays.

In this role, naturally, Macdara had to sing. Normally, however, he reserves his vocal cords for special occasions: “If I am at home on the island I might sing a song – give me about four pints,” he concedes.

The Abbey

After attending the Irish School of Acting for two years, the Galway man went on to join the Abbey Theatre Company in 1972. Macdara explains that, as a member of an acting company, you play whatever role is asked of you – whether it be major, minor or in between – no questions asked.

“One always remembers the first time they played a leading role, which for me was in Lovers by Brian Friel. We did all sorts of plays: Murphy, Friel, Shakespeare, Chekov. I did a lot of John B Keane for a while. The Field brought us to Russia, which was interesting at the time, as Gorbachev was in power and communism was about to fall.”

Aptly, it was a man inextricably linked with the history of the Abbey Theatre that started Macdara’s interest in acting: “John Millington Synge stayed with my grandparents around the turn of the century, and that was what sparked my interest in drama really. When I was growing up no one would have remembered him, but there were all the handed-down stories.”

Island life

Growing up on the middle of the Aran Islands, Macdara came from a family of 11 children. At one stage there were 14 of them living under one roof: all the children, along with his parents and grandmother. He describes island life as a peaceful existence and he likes to return home whenever possible.

“I go back to the island as much as I can. I spent three weeks out there during the summer on my own, and it was absolutely beautiful: the silence. Growing up, it was more of an island life.

“Now on Inis Meáin they have all the amenities of a town, all the mod-cons. It is a city life, practically, except it is still cut off, thankfully.

“I think anyone who lives on the island uses Irish as their vernacular still. There are people still in areas of Ireland whose knowledge of English would be very limited, including Inis Meáin. People who lived all their lives on the island and weren’t exposed to English speaking around them.”

Ros na Rún

Macdara has played the part of Tadhg Ó Direáin in Ros na Rún since he left the Abbey and joined the soap in 1996.

In stark contrast to himself, who comes across as being gentle and reserved, Tadhg is often portrayed as the bad guy on the show.

“I still find him interesting after 22 years. I like the unpredictability of his character. He is a publican, who does have a heart, but as far as he is concerned not enough people are dying. He is amoral.

“People tell me that he is funny, I don’t see the funny side of it, but people do find him entertaining.”

Macdara is married to RTÉ news anchor Eileen Dunne, who he met at the Foxford Goat Fair in Co Mayo. With Ros na Rún filmed in Spiddal, Co Galway, when their son was younger, he had a path well-worn from where they lived in Clontarf to Connemara.

“In the initial years, our son was born more or less the year Ros na Rún started, I used to go up and down twice a week to Spiddal, sometimes three times a week, but now he’s 22 and he can forage for himself. I don’t have to travel as much, I just come down once in the week.”

As well as multiple-weekly cross-country trips, he also has a long and fruitful career behind him and many more opportunities on the horizon. Macdara Ó Fátharta is living proof that success speaks louder than words. CL