Power to the poets: Patrick Bergin and poetry on screen

When it came to supporting an initiative to encourage the creation of poetry inspired by Powerscourt Gardens, Patrick Bergin was on board from the start

Patrick Bergin pictured at the launch of the Powerscourt Estate “Poetry in Bloom” nature poetry initiative.

Nature and the arts have helped sustain Patrick Bergin throughout his life, so when it came to supporting an initiative to encourage the creation of poetry in the surroundings of one of the country’s most beautiful estates, he was on board from the start.

In conjunction with the Fighting Words creative writing organisation, the actor has helped develop Poetry in Bloom, which is calling on people to write a poem, lyrics or create a spoken-word piece inspired by nature at Powerscourt Gardens, Co Wicklow. Bergin will select a number of submissions to be made into a short poetry-film.

“I enjoy very much the walks up through Powerscourt, it’s beautiful. I love the waterfall in particular and the house is tremendous. It just lends itself to the poetic imagination, and the recital of poetry,” he says.

Bergin, 70, spent his formative years in Dublin. His father, also Patrick, was a Labour Party senator, and his brother Emmet is best-known for playing the rakish Dick Moran in Glenroe.

“My favourite lines were written by my father — ‘what a man needs is a roof over his head, food on the table and a flower in the vase’. The flower in the vase is everything we have come to see as important [during the pandemic] — the poetic life, the spiritual life, the aesthetic life,” he says.

Before he became a full-time actor, Bergin was an English teacher in Kilburn in London, so he knows all about the importance of the arts in the development of young people. “I have a bachelor of education degree, and basically, I set up a school for children who wouldn’t go to school. I also established a small theatre group around the same time. Poetry, theatre, the arts were always very much part of my life.” 

Bergin and his partner Helen Goldin also enjoy getting back to nature at the castle he bought in Cloughjordan in Co Tipperary in the 90s, the upkeep of which keeps him busy.

“It is wonderful, I have about 12 acres of woodland, I love to hear all the birds singing, it’s gorgeous. It got hit by the storms, and the roofs of some of the buildings got blown away, so I’m just trying to get that sorted. Hopefully, it will be thriving again this time next year,” he says.

An international star

Bergin began working in repertory theatre in Britain and had roles in Irish productions such as Taffin before making an impact as explorer Richard Burton in the well-received film Mountains of the Moon. 

However, it was his role opposite Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy that made him an international star. He excelled in the role of the abusive Martin Burney, whose wife Laura, played by Julia Roberts, takes desperate measures to escape his control.

He says it is hard to believe it is 30 years since it was released and that there is still huge interest in it. “It is like yesterday. I watched it a couple of times recently because I had been invited to various places where they were showing it.” He says Julia Roberts was a delight to work with and that he also had a significant input into the ending of the movie.

“There was a mountain of dialogue at the end and I just felt it was slowing things down and the director asked me, well, what would you say, and I said the line: 'I can’t live without you and I won’t let you live without me'. They called in the writer then and added it to the movie.” 

Bergin went on to star in Patriot Games and the title role in Robin Hood, opposite Uma Thurman who played Maid Marian. He said while he initially got some stick for being an Irishman playing a famous English outlaw, he quickly silenced any doubters.

“That was a great romp although they were a bit derogatory about my Irishness. Why is this Paddy playing Robin Hood, they were basically saying. The archery scene was first day, and apparently back in those days, there used to be a stick hanging from the tree, and you had to hit that, rather than a target as such. I went up, first time, first shot, and the arrow went straight through the stick. I turned around and bowed to the Merry Men and they didn’t insult me anymore after that,” he says.

Bergin has been busy working in film, television and on stage ever since. More recently, he has had roles in Irish shows such as Fir Bolg, Red Rock and TheSouth Westerlies and he also played villain Aidan Maguire in Eastenders, an experience he says he enjoyed greatly.

“I was very fond of  Eastenders. It was short and sweet, I wouldn’t like to be working on anything for a very long time. It was an interesting character, and working on it was like being part of a family, it was like I had known them all my life.” It turns out though that, unbeknown to him, he was already acquainted with one of the cast members.

“I used to play a gig at a pub in Hampstead, The Sir Richard Steele, on Thursday night, and we would retire to a place called The Marathon in Chalk Farm. If you bought a kebab you could drink there until 2am in the morning.

“We would make a hell of a racket, and Shane McGowan and all sorts of people would be there. It turned out the person who came in and cleaned up after us was Phil Mitchell [Steve McFadden] before he became famous. We had a laugh about that.”

Music also plays an important role in Bergin’s life and pre-pandemic, he regularly performed with his own band, The Spirit Merchants, playing the guitar and harmonica. “There was no singing, dancing or tearing away [during the pandemic],” he says.

He also sang Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Anthem’ for Pope Francis on his visit to Ireland, which he hopes to release for charity.

Poetry on screen

In recent years, his love of theatre and music came together in some Cork-based projects, featuring the Lee Valley Players from Macroom. In 2016, he starred in the musical Murder at Shandy Hall at the Briery Gap Theatre in Macroom and Cork Opera House. 

In 2019, he went on to star in another musical, The Blarney Stone, at the Opera House. It was written by the late John McDonagh, whose brother, Thomas, was a famous poet and hero of the 1916 Rising.

“I had great fun doing The Blarney Stone. The heritage centre in Cloughjordan is named after Thomas McDonagh, as the family were from there. I went in there to have a look and I was talking to the lady that runs it, and she told me about John and that he had written a musical, which turned out to be The Blarney Stone.

“At some point close to Christmas we are going to have a party in the heritage centre and play The Blarney Stone. I find things like that very satisfying.”

As for career highlights, he singles out Mountains of the Moon and Map of the Human Heart, an adventure story set before and after the second world war, in which he played a cartographer who befriends a young Inuit boy.

“That was a beautiful film. It was set in the Arctic and I lived up there for a month or so. I’ve done more than 100 films and I’m delighted that they have taken me all over the world.”

He says that he was lucky that Sleeping with the Enemy gave him a long pipeline of roles.

“The rule of thumb in Hollywood is you are only worth how much money your last movie made and because Sleeping with the Enemy made so much money, I was offered lots of parts. So I didn’t have to work that hard, I didn’t have to play the Hollywood game that often.”

Were there any roles he turned down that he wished he hadn’t? “I can’t think of any,” he says. He pauses, then laughs. “James Bond.” 

He may jest but his next role could see him entering a new phase of his career — he is slated to star as an intelligence operative in the thriller Cold Sun, a part he describes as “like James Bond coming out of retirement”.

Could a Liam Neeson-style renaissance as an action hero be on the cards? “This character is more erudite,” he says. So we could perhaps look forward to him reciting some poetry on screen, then. “There you have it,” he laughs.

• Poetry in Bloom runs until September 17, powerscourt.com