Clare Dunne: 'Kin is different from Love/Hate'
'If you’re making people talk in a good way, bring it on. That’s what art is for,' says Clare Dunne. who plays Amanda in Kin.
Clare Dunne has been torn between two worlds recently, as she juggles the reactions of her film Herself hitting cinemas, while preparing for the launch of RTÉ’s newest drama Kin.
The Dubliner plays the central character of Amanda in the fictional gangland series, a protective mother who married into a mob family and takes matters into her own hands when a member of her clan is killed. may have a completely different plot, but Dunne again stepped into the role of a strong-willed mother for the blockbuster. She's been praised for her performance in both roles.
“I’m a late bloomer but everything is blooming at once,” she says with a laugh over Zoom. “It was a trick of fate because of the pandemic, but it’s amazing to be at the centre of such great projects. The reactions have been phenomenal.”
This particular project has already been drawing some commentary, even before its air date tomorrow night. Joe Duffy made headlines earlier in the week after saying he wouldn’t be tuning into Kin, as he found it exploitative of Dublin’s working class.
“I hate their travails being exploited by middle-class actors who are putting on their thick working-class Dublin accents and then go back to eating foie gras during their lunch break,” the Liveline presenter said.
Dunne, who grew up in Ballinteer, doesn’t see it that way.
"I come from council estates, I've never had foie gras. That's his opinion but I'd love for people to see it first and make judgments later. I'd love him to be open-minded and watch it first,” she says.
“I would say there's nothing glamorous about fearing for your life and your children's lives and always looking over your shoulder. I would definitely encourage people to be open-minded to the first few episodes. There’s a reason I said yes to this [role].”
That reason largely being the writing of Peter McKenna, best known for his work on and .
“I remember I started to read [the script] while I was sitting on the floor of my sitting room and I was completely absorbed. I didn’t get up for two hours. It’s confident writing and it’s just deep,” Dunne says.
“It’s always a good sign when an hour-long episode has a script of less than 60 pages. It was really slick, even on the page. I was like this guy [McKenna] is in the zone. What he was writing was epic stuff. It was like there was no such thing as being one of those female roles that serves the male. I was getting the cake — I was getting all the layers.”
In fact, Dunne wouldn’t label the series as a crime drama at all. "From the outset, I realised that it wasn't just a crime drama. The characters are really wrestling with their own place in the world. I think in Amanda's case, she was young and married into this family. It's more about consequences I would say,” she says.
"I know it's kind of dark and heavy but something in it about a mother's love and her determination for fighting for her sons is what pulls me to it."
has already been compared to by some — while also pulling parallels to another legendary Irish series.
"I would say that is different to in that it's more of a family drama that's set in a crime world. I think it's a bit more distilled, maybe there are fewer characters and you focus more on their journeys. So I think structurally it's quite different and then the look of it is very different," she says.
"There's certainly way less violence because we explore it in a different way. But It's great to be associated with it because it created a lot of buzz in the country."
The buzz has certainly already spread and with a cast that includes Aidan Gillen, Emmett J Scanlon, and Charlie Cox, those involved with are sure to face a new kind of stardom in the coming weeks.
“I don’t know what to expect because I’ve never been in anything like this but I am excited. I’ve never been recognised on the street but I have been in the last few days. but in Ireland I don’t think people bother you too much,” Dunne says.
When asked if she thinks she’ll be asked to go on Liveline on Monday following tomorrow's premiere, Dunne’s attitude is “bring it on”. If people are talking about the show, she believes, then those involved are doing something right.
“That means you’re making something interesting,” she says. “You’re making art. If you’re making people talk in a good way, bring it on. That’s what art is for.”
- airs on RTÉ One, Sunday, September 12 at 9:30pm
