Conway getting Gigli with it

A REVIVAL of Tom Murphy’s magnificent play, The Gigli Concert, begins in the Gate Theatre tonight, and for Denis Conway, the show is a case of déjà vu.

The Cork actor plays the ‘Irish Man’, a roughly hewn property developer who washes up in the office of a ‘dynamotologist’ (Declan Conlon) and asks to be taught how to sing like the great tenor, Beniamino Gigli. Conway excelled in the role six years ago in a previous production by Druid, and he is relishing this second bite of the cherry.

“When you get to play a great part like this, you always want to revisit it, because you never feel you’ve done it justice,” says Conway. “But, more importantly, the Gate, for me, is the perfect venue for this play. Of all the stages that Gigli has been done on, this is the best one, because the Gate is like a music hall. It has lovely acoustics. It’s very intimate. You could imagine Gigli himself singing at the Gate.”