This much I know: Stephen Brennan

Irish theatre is like the rest of the country, full of well intentioned amateurs, prostitutes, posturers and administrators.

When I was eight I played a part in a play on Radio Eireann, for which I was paid one pound, and ten shillings for a repeat. It was terrifying. I don’t know why I still put myself through it, and for only slightly greater reward.

When I left school I joined an advertising agency, with a view to being groomed as a junior executive. A childish belief that I should have something to fall back on. But who wants to fall back? I left one Friday lunchtime having collected my £5 wages and headed for my first juve lead in RTE television down the road. The die was inevitably cast.