Sarah Greene takes on housing crisis in Roddy Doyle-penned film
Cork actress Sarah Greene put a lot into her role in the Roddy Doyle-penned film about a family caught up in the housing crisis, writes
In a career peppered with fine performances, Rosie may prove to be Cork actress Sarah Greene’s most powerful yet.
The first film scripted by Roddy Doyle in almost two decades is a timely and rousing drama about a young family caught up in Ireland’s housing crisis.
But like the great social realism films of the Dardenne Brothers or Ken Loach, there is love and compassion within the hardship.
Directed by Paddy Breathnach (Viva, I Went Down) over a couple of days in contemporary Dublin, Rosie centres around a decent young working-class family’s attempts to find a room for the night, having recently had to leave the house they’d been renting.
Greene is terrific as the title character, a mother trying to shield her kids from their new reality as much as she can as she and her husband (Moe Dunford) struggle to find accommodation.
Some of the film’s scenes show Rosie on the phone, having the same conversation over and over, as she works through a list of hotels.
“It is very repetitive for these families, you know, it’s the same day. It’s the same situation every day — ringing around, trying to find temporary accommodation, telling your story to a different person every day and trying to grasp on to any hope whatsoever,” she says. “It’s just awful what people are going through today. I think Roddy did a great thing by writing this story.”
TIMELY ISSUE
The film really couldn’t be more timely says Greene, adding that the day she first saw the finished movie, a mother shared a photo of her kids sleeping in a garda station in a post that went viral. During filming, she said, it was little things that struck home — like being unable to wash your clothes or the fear of becoming a burden to loved ones.
“There was a story Paddy told us about a woman he spoke to who had three young kids and they’re in a fast food restaurant and she’d nowhere to go,” says Greene.
“One of the kids wanted to go to the bathroom and it was a problem. ‘What do I do? Do I leave my small children, do I take one? Do I bring them all to the bathroom and run the risk of somebody throwing out the food that we’ve spent 12 quid on? I don’t have another 12 quid to buy another dinner’.”
Breathnach’s film brings audiences right into the car and the hotel rooms where the family lives, giving a real sense of the lack of space.
“That was a deliberate choice and a genius choice by Paddy,” says Greene.
He never wanted the audience be on the outside looking in at this family. He wanted the camera to be in the car watching from within so so it gives that really claustrophobic feel to it. You just feel so scared for this family.
Rosie caps a busy and successful period for the increasingly in-demand Cork actress, who has starred in three major Irish productions this year (including Dublin Oldschool and Black ’47).
A number of people supported and inspired the young Glanmire girl to pursue an acting career, which she dreamed of ever since she was little.
“I saw a pantomime with my parents years ago in the Opera House and I just wanted to be on the stage. My parents put me into CADA (the well-known performing arts school) and I went to Catherine Mahon-Buckley. We started off in her front room in her house way before she had the studios and then we were in Thompson House on MacCurtain Street and then into the bigger studios on the quays.
“Catherine Mahon-Buckley is how I started and I stayed with her until I was 19. That’s where I found my love for theatre. We did musicals and pantos, it was an amazing place to go to as a kid.
“Then entering into the business I got to work with the late Anita Reeves and Hilda Fay on a show called Little Gem by Elaine Murphy and that was a huge learning curve for me. Anita was a hero for me. She taught me lots about life and about acting.”
NOBLE CAUSE
It’s been an incredibly busy time for the actress, who first won public attention for her role in Noble, before getting a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple Of Inishmaan on Broadway. She recently returned to Cork for a long break with parents Steve and Claire, catching up with family and friends.
“I’d worked for two years straight. So I was pretty exhausted by the time Rosie came around, which was perfect for the job I think. Rosie’s tired and I was tired,” she says.
“I took a break after that because I was just a bit burnt out and emotionally the film just took a lot out of me. So I spent some time down in Cork and in Kerry with them. We go to a place in Glenbeigh, called Rossbeigh Beach. I spent a week down there — it was during the heat wave so it was really nice.
“They come and visit in London quite a bit, which is lovely. They love coming to opening nights, it’s their favourite thing! Looking around to see who else is there!” she laughs.
It’s her fourth time working with fellow actor and good friend Moe Dunford, who recalls her encouragement when she had completed acting at the Gaiety School, a course he had just begun.
“I was in first year and she had gone maybe two, three years,” says Dunford.
“I still remember the conversation. I always felt she was rooting for me and rooting for acting friends of ours and I felt that in Vikings. I remember one day I was scared shitless because I’d just done my first day on a horse. I came back to the dressing room. And Sarah says: ‘Well done, we have a good chance of coming back next season’.
It’s just been an honour to share any amount of screen time with her. I think she’s just incredible.
It’s been a very successful run for the Corkwoman, but Greene is not the type to take it for granted.
“I’ve been very lucky in the last couple of years. But before I had this long run of work, I was out of work for five months and I actually had to kind of make a choice not to get down, to get out of the house to meet my friends.
“I think this job can sometimes become part of your identity and when you don’t have any work, like in any job, when that’s taken away from you, you lose confidence and you feel like you’ve nothing to give and that’s kind of how I felt. So it’s just about changing my attitude towards the job and it is after all just a job, and it’s about having a healthy relationship with it.”
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