Staying this side of a nervous breakdown

Thurles actress Kerry Condon talks about Women On The Verge, a new TV series she’s made with Sharon Horgan, writes Georgia Humphreys

Women on the verge follows three women in their thirties. Tell us about your character, Laura:

My character isn’t in a relationship and has no responsibilities and only has to take care of herself. I suppose she’s a bit lost, really. She’s trying hard at her career but it’s just a bit mediocre, and I’m not even sure if it’s something that she’s that great at anyway because she hasn’t got a lot of self-esteem.

Then she’s picking the wrong kind of guys. She doesn’t find nice guys attractive. Because of her lack of responsibilities, she can go out drinking and behave however she wants and be self-destructive and subsequently really lonely. Her friends have children or are thinking of having children but there’s no sense of that with Laura. That’s miles away for her. She’d just like a boyfriend, or a promotion.

What did you think of the script when you first read it?

The lady who plays my mother, Dearbhla Molloy, I worked with her years ago in a play too, and she said to me after the read-through, “Did they write this with you in mind?” I was like, “I know!” It’s totally like... It’s just me, you know?

I’m not saying I’m drinking myself into oblivion at night, but there’s a stream of consciousness in the way that I talk, and I’m very honest about things that annoy me, like Laura. That was when I thought, “Christ, this wouldn’t be that much of a stretch for me really”.

The show was created by Sharon Horgan and Lorna Martin, who wrote the comic memoir. How did you get the part?

Sharon sent it to me because I had done a play with a friend of hers 13 years ago. She came to see it, and then she watched other things that I’d done, and so years later she sent this to me and asked me would I like to play the part.

I couldn’t believe that she remembered really, to be honest with you. But it was nice to know that somebody was paying attention to something I’d done and put work into. I’ve done jobs where you still have to audition even if you’ve worked with them before, so it was massive for me to have somebody have such confidence in what I can do.

What can you tell us about Sharon’s own character, Dr Fitzgerald, Laura’s therapist?

We shot all the therapy scenes in the first two days. So that was good, because it was the first day for everybody, and it took the nerves off because everyone’s a little nervous and trying to prove themselves. And because Sharon was there, I felt it was an opportunity for me to show that I was going to do a good job. The way we shot them was that Sharon was sitting behind me, and I was lying on the couch. So, it was kind of relaxing, lying down!

You must have had a lot of fun making this show together?

Sharon’s pure gas. She’s so nice. Some people can be intimidating but there’s not that feeling with her, I just really enjoyed it.

We had a week of rehearsals, which was great to just get to know each other and to be able to chat to each other and know how we all work. We shot the whole thing in six weeks so there was a lot of learning lines when I wasn’t working, but that’s not a “boo hoo”. I mean it was hard, but it wasn’t that hard.

Would you agree that it’s quite rare to see a show about women in their thirties and forties?

I suppose there were examples years ago and then it kind of went away for a while — like The Golden Girls. Thinking back now, it kind of lost its way for a bit, I suppose.

But I think that it [life] didn’t work out is the appeal, maybe. That their lives haven’t gone the way they were supposed to.

This series is set in Dublin. does it feel very Irish or universal?

There’s a sense of humour that’s very Irish that I think is appreciated in other countries a lot more than it even is in Ireland. I don’t think people in Ireland realise how funny they are, and the way they phrase things and stuff, and the level of honesty.

Not that Irish people aren’t sometimes pretentious or fake, but generally speaking the way they talk at least sounds honest and that’s what these scripts have in them.

Women On The Verge begins on RTÉ2 next Thursday at 10.30pm