Cork actress Roisin O'Neill lands lead role in Keane's Sive

IT’S been a rapid ascent for Cork actor, Roisin O’Neill.

Cutting her teeth in drama at UCC, the Ballincollig native has already had some plum roles. Last year saw her make her TV debut on TV3’s suburbo-soap Deception, and she performed in Carmel Winters’ play Best Man at the Cork Midsummer Festival. Neither quite compare, however, to her current assignment — playing the title character in the Abbey Theatre’s new production of John B Keane’s Sive.

“I had four auditions and the last one took over an hour,” she says. “So I knew the play well by the time we started. The director, Conall Morrison, tested us an awful lot.”