A question of taste - Actor Bosco Hogan

Interview by Des O'Driscoll

Bosco Hogan is one of the actors appearaing in the Abbey’s production of Jimmy’s Hall at Cork Opera House from Sept 18-22. Born in Drogheda, Co Louth and raised in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, Hogan has appeared in numerous other plays, TV shows and films.

Best recent book you’ve read: Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. A violent, emotional, lyrical book. Barry writes sublimely.

Best recent film: BlacKkKlansman. One of those films after which, after viewing, you find yourself sitting through the credits simply to fully absorb the experience.

Best recent show or exhibition/gig you’ve seen: I regularly go to the National Gallery but especially love the Turner exhibition which takes place every January. Turner’s skill with watercolours is simply breathtaking.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old): Never thought I would listen to a heavy metal band but, recently, I was introduced by a friend to the music of Disturbed. Their version of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’ is awesome.

First ever piece of theatre that really moved you: On my first visit to London as a youngster I saw Roy Dotrice give a spectacular performance as John Aubrey in Patrick Garland’s Brief Lives. Utterly compelling in its mastery.

The best gig or show you’ve ever seen (if you had to pick one!): Not a gig-goer generally but the late, great Dave Brubeck was sensational in Vicar Street. Jazz masterclass!

Tell us about your TV viewing: I do not watch much TV apart from sport. I prefer to read fiction or listen to, or play, music.

Radio listening and/or podcasts: The news and Lyric FM.

Your best celebrity encounter: Working with Sean Connery in John Boorman’s film Zardoz. I can tell you he is a helluva snooker player!

Sean Connery in Zardoz (1974)

What are your three favourite acting performances of all time (can be theatre or film)?

Impossible to answer! However, I particularly recall Michael Gambon as Eddie in A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller; Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke; Cary Grant in Arsenic And Old Lace; and, of course, hundreds more!

Of my own performances , I recall playing WB Yeats in I Am of Ireland by Edward Callan; Pyper — young and old — in Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme by Frank McGuinness; Séamus in Brigit by Tom Murphy.

You can portal back to any period of human cultural history or event — where, when, and why?

Four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA. December 17, 1903, That is where Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft. What a sight that must have been!

Unsung hero — individual or group you think don’t get the profile/praise they deserve: Donal O’Kelly, actor, colleague and friend who works tirelessly for the human rights of the oppressed.

You are king for a day — what’s your first decree?

Wealth redistribution.