Give Me Your Hand bringing it all back to beautiful Beara

Give Me Your Hand is a play with a simple premise that has been hugely successful both in Ireland and internationally.

Actors Dermot Crowley and Dearbhla Molloy perform the poetry of Paul Durcan, who loosely based his collection of the same name on 50 paintings in the National Gallery in London. On July 20 the play will be performed in the village of Eyeries in West Cork as part of its annual festival, which also features a concert by Damian Dempsey. For Crowley, it is a chance to give something back to the close-knit community that has been an important part of his life for the last 15 years.

“In 1997, I came to Beara to film the mini-series Falling For A Dancer with Colin Farrell and Liam Cunningham,” he recalls. “Even though I grew up in Cork city I had never been to Beara and I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful it was. I rang my wife within a few days and told her that I wouldn’t be able to leave this place behind me. I bought a house in the village and have been coming back ever since.”

Crowley is one of those actors who seems to completely inhabit the parts he plays; so much so that the man himself often seems to slide under the radar. His theatre work includes Conor McPherson’s The Weir and Garry Hynes’ highly acclaimed production of Brian Friel’s Translations as well as numerous other stage productions in Britain and the US. His television credits include Midsomer Murders, Bleak House, The Bill, Father Ted and Luther.

“When I first read Paul Durcan’s poems they had a huge impact on me,” he says. “Some were laugh-out-loud funny; some brought a tear to my eye. Durcan manages to breathe life and vitality into these iconic paintings. He imagines Van Gogh’s mother defending her son’s sanity or Cardinal Richelieu trying to stay off the drink. By juxtapositioning projected images of the paintings with the spoken word I hope our show brings both alive in a unique way.

“Acting wise, I don’t really know how I do what I do, you evolve into it,” he says. “But the starting point is the script. In Luther, the tone is often very dark and threatening. By contrast I am now filming a new comedy sitcom written by Jason Byrne called Father Figure. What they have in common is the quality of the writing. For me it is important to play interesting parts; if you make a living from it then that is a great bonus.”

Crowley believes television is now leading the way in an era when commercial cinema is struggling to provide original material.

“I do find it depressing that so much cinema is aimed at the teenage market,” he says. “I think a lot of the great drama is now on television, particularly in US shows such as Breaking Bad. Even the big actors in Hollywood are looking at television as a way of finding interesting roles to play.”

Crowley will now take a break from filming and will retreat to West Cork to recharge. “There is a huge contrast between my life in London and my life in Eyeries,” he says. “There is a huge sense of solidarity and friendship here and the festival is the focal point in the life of the village. For me, Beara is probably the last, relatively undiscovered peninsula in Britain and Ireland and it is a great privilege to be able to give something back to a place that has provided me with such pleasure.”

* Tickets: www.Eyeries.ie or Sue at Beara Gallery 064 6683976 or 083 1292571