Living Life: it’s a long way to Tipperary

Roseanna Purcell hails from the small village of Littleton in Co Tipperary and attended school in Thurles.

“Everyone used to laugh that when I was getting the bus to school in Thurles that I got the little tin bus.”

I always wanted to be an actor. I can’t remember wanting to do anything else

After countless bus rides to school, Roseanna went on to University College Cork (UCC) to study drama and theatre studies.

“I always wanted to be an actor. I can’t remember wanting to do anything else. For a couple of months I toyed with the idea of wanting to go into development work but then I was like, ‘No I want to be an actor’.”

Roseanna’s mother is involved with the Thurles Drama Group, directs plays for the festival circuit and was also a drama teacher.

“That’s probably where I get it from. Growing up I would have gone to a lot of plays and musicals, so I’m very lucky in the sense that they are so supportive.”

Gaiety

She was also a recipient of the Gaiety Theatre Bursary Award and attended the Gaiety School of Acting for two years.

“It was a fantastic two years. It was very challenging. It’s really full-on; you have to wear black the whole time and no makeup. That was to make sure that everyone was on a level playing field and to make sure you’re working as an ensemble.”

But Roseanna doesn’t just act, she has also taken up writing and is currently writing a new play called Muck after the success of her first play called Test Copy. She credits this to the skills she learned while at the Gaiety.

It’s very new territory for me

“There was a brilliant module in the Gaiety called ‘manifesto’ where the whole module was helping you devise your own work and it provided skills that I never thought I’d be interested in or that I’d have.

“It’s very new territory for me but I think so many actors are turning their hand to it now because the work can be scarce and people want to make their own work.”

A common risk that all actors take on board is that sometimes work is readily available and sometimes it just isn’t.

I really enjoy learning from other people

“For me it is the case that it can be a feast or a famine, but the moment it’s going well for me.

“I really enjoy learning from other people and I do kind of enjoy the precariousness of it. As you get older, you just have to embrace it because it’s not the nine-to-five lifestyle. It’s challenging but also really rewarding.”

Peace and quiet

Roseanna lives in Dublin now and is happy living there but admits it can be loud, especially when you’ve had a break away from city life.

“I love going home to Tipp and the peace and quiet there. I was in Annaghmakerrig, in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre for a retreat. The surroundings were just so beautiful and peaceful. You don’t realise how noisy the city is until you’re not in it.

“When I came back from Annaghmakerrig, I remember walking home and someone phoned me. I was like, ‘I’m sorry I can’t hear you, there’s buses screaming beside me’. It can be quite maniac, especially the city centre.”

So would she ever commute to the city for work?

“A lot of actors do it and maybe in the future I might move out of the city but for now the beast of the business is here and you have to be available for last minute auditions and to see theatre.”

Characters with substance

Roseanna has been fortunate that the characters she has played up to now have been varied. Characters with a bit of substance are of most interest to her.

“I’ve no interest in the leading lady who doesn’t have much going on for her other than being good looking or interested in a man. I’m interested in playing women who are complex and not very stereotypical.”

The tunes are epic, there’s no denying it

Having previously played Noeleen in Copper Face Jacks: The Musical, Irish Country Living asks Roseanna if she enjoys visiting Harcourt Street as much as the rest of us.

“The tunes are epic, there’s no denying it. Everyone has a good time there.”

The last night of the musical the Dublin football team were amongst the crowd.

“A few of them were going, ‘Noeleen, Noeleen’ after. It was gas because I was like who are these guys and someone told me, ‘That’s the Dublin football team’. I was like, ‘Oh cool. I’m not massively into sport’.”

It’s a two-hander so we’re also playing an awful lot of characters

Roseanna’s upcoming stint on stage, A Holy Show, is a comedy based on the 1981 hijacking of an Aer Lingus plane and the search for the Third Secret of Fatima. She is playing not one, but many characters.

“It’s a two-hander so we’re also playing an awful lot of characters. I’m playing a male pilot at one point, an old woman from Dublin, a mother in her 40s and an air hostess.”

A Holy Show is touring theatres nationwide from 23 January to 7 March. To find out if it will be in a theatre near you see www.verdant.ie

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