Meet Alison Oliver - the Cork star of Sally Rooney's Conversations with Friends 

The Blackrock native on growing up in Cork, unleashing her inner animal and re-defining the notion of consent on screen

Alison Oliver. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan

Alison Oliver absolutely loved Normal People. The TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s sophomore novel with its emotionally earnest performances and charged sexual energy felt like a “revelation” to the twenty-something actor, who agrees that the hit series was much more than just the sum of its parts.

There were other things too, we agree, that left an indelible mark on the collective consciousness – not the least, the 41 minutes of unapologetically intimate sex scenes that caused Joe Duffy’s phone lines to almost combust with complaints.

Given the meteoric success of its predecessor, (62.7m views and counting on the BBC iPlayer alone) the bar is already set quite high for the new Element Pictures’ production. While Conversations with Friends is indeed a “cousin, that shares an aesthetic tone” with Normal People, it is an entirely separate story, says Oliver. If she feels the pressure of leading an all-star cast in the follow-up to a worldwide sensation, the doe-eyed brunette certainly doesn’t show it. Her bright and breezy disposition oozes with gratitude for being cast in such a meaty role straight out of drama school. Rather than caving under the weight of expectations, she approached it with the devil-may-care attitude associated almost exclusively with people of her generation.

“This is continuing the Rooneyverse - another story from Sally’s incredible books. I am just really happy to be part of something that’s telling her stories.” While it’s hard to imagine Oliver being an overly precocious child, she tells me that she “roped” all her friends into making up dance routines and plays with her. One friend in particular wasn’t impressed.

“Every time I would bring a friend over to the house, I would always make up a dance, or sometimes a whole play. I would make little tickets for my parents. One of my friends from primary school – we were only talking about this the other day – was like, after a while, I didn’t want to come over to your house because I knew you’d make me do a dance or a play or something.”

Alison Oliver: a born performer. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan

It feels easy chatting with Oliver and while her performance in the show is the living, breathing embodiment of Frances, in real life, she displays no signs of the painful over-analysing that occupies her on-screen character, at least not outwardly.

Hailing originally from Ballintemple in Cork city, before moving to nearby Blackrock at an early age, Oliver attended Scoil Mhuire, a private school in the heart of Cork city. Well known for its vibrant extracurricular offerings, the school boasts successful alumni in a number of fields, from the BAFTA/Olivier winner, Fiona Shaw, to the celebrity chef, Clodagh McKenna.

Leaving school on her very first day, Oliver and her classmates were met with rapturous applause and a standing ovation from their proud parents. It was the first of many claps that she would receive and her parents were to become the greatest cheerleaders of her creativity. Together with her twin sisters, she would regularly supply the in-house entertainment.

“It was a big part of our home. My parents loved to watch us.” Although neither of her parents were involved in the creative industries, a love of the arts was fostered from a young age. Her father works in a superstore and her mother is a social worker who is “very involved with a choir.” Oliver trod the boards as a child, enrolling in drama, singing and dancing lessons at The Performer’s Academy facilitated by Irene Warren and the Cork School of Dance run by Sinead Murphy.

“It was such a lovely stage school. The Firkin Crane was my happy place growing up. I literally lived there.” While she credits her time spent at the stage school as a good foundation for the acting skills she would then hone in the Lir Academy at Trinity College, Dublin, what she valued most about it was the sense of camaraderie and kinship.

“It was almost like a little family. I loved that I had such brilliant friendships. We would do end-of-year performances and I would spend all my spare time there.”

Alison Oliver: made a home for herself in the Firkin Crane. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan

It takes more than just acting chops to lead a cast of experienced thespians and the task requires its subject to be simultaneously vulnerable and thick-skinned. The great acting coach, Viola Spolin described this essential skill as having a “greater individual capacity for experiencing” and this is exactly what Oliver did on set, soaking up all she could learn from the other cast members - from the raw-but-untrained talent of Girls’ Jemima Kirke, to the compelling Joe Alwyn, who (no big deal) co-authored part of girlfriend Taylor Swift’s Grammy award-winning album, Folklore, and the charismatic Sasha Lane whose performance as Jessica Hyde was the single greatest thing about the American version of graphic-novel-turned-TV-series, Utopia.

Despite being “shocked and grateful” about her casting in the role of Frances, Oliver says that her training at drama school prepared her for “learning how to fail.” In fact, in her first year of auditioning, she failed to secure a place on the prestigious course in Trinity College Dublin. She was instead offered a place on the Foundation Diploma in Acting and Theatre at the Lir Academy.

“I’m so glad I did that year because I don’t think coming straight from school, I was ready to commit to the drama school – it’s intense – you have to be really sure and committed. I knew it was what I wanted to do but I was still a bit young.” 

Oliver auditioned again the next year and was accepted, feeling more ready to tackle the course content which involved immersing herself in the technique of acting as well as training in voice, movement, singing and text analysis. While the course involved long hours and is described by its director, Loughlin Deegan as “emotionally, psychologically and physically draining,” Oliver thrived and played a slew of distinct roles across her three years at the conservatory.

Alison Oliver: does a mean tapir impression, if asked. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan

Oliver’s most unexpected skill is not her distinction in rapier, dagger and unarmed combat training from the Irish Dramatic Combat Academy in Armed Fighting but her ability to mimic a tapir. Yes, a tapir. Pioneered by the Russian actor/teacher, Maria Ouspenskaya, ‘the animal exercise’ involves intensely studying an animal, its gestures, sounds and behaviours and mimicking these movements. Jake Gyllenhaal channelled his inner coyote in Nightcrawler and Marlon Brando based characteristics of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire on a gorilla.

For weeks, Oliver went to Dublin Zoo, studying the gait, the pace, the sounds and the facial expressions made by the tapir. Not only did the exercise lower her inhibitions as a physical performer, it also heightened her ability to be present in the moment. And while she didn’t exactly bring the qualities of the tapir into the rehearsal room for Conversations with Friends, it was exercises like this that helped her tap into the intuition that she believes is fundamental to the craft of acting.

“Animals are so instinctual and they’re so present. With acting you’re always trying to be present in the moment. You can take so much from animals in the way that they move and think.” The show was filmed during the pandemic in Dublin, Belfast and Croatia and the restrictions very much worked in their favour, says Oliver, as the cast became a tightly knit group quite quickly.

“Me, Joe and [director] Lenny [Abrahamson] all met in Belfast for a three-day rehearsal in March ’21; that was the first time I had met him [Alywyn]. Joe is such a wonderful person, an amazing actor the casting was so right. When I was meeting him for the first time, I was like ‘oh my god, it’s Nick’. I was so excited to meet him. With all four of us, there’s an essence between us; there’s part of us all that deeply connects with each character we’re playing and with each other.” It seems only fitting that Lane and Oliver bonded before the rest of the cast started shooting.

“I was a fan of hers. The first two weeks of filming was just me and Sasha in Frances’ apartment and that was such a special time for both of us. We just bonded. We were living out of each other’s pockets the whole time.” Was that period instrumental for their dynamic in the show? Absolutely, says Oliver, in fact this relationship and connection was just as important as the one with Alywn as Nick.

“That initial time to rehearse was crucial for Bobbi and Frances because they are best friends and soulmates and they have so much history together. They have kind of developed this way of being and experiencing life together and it was important for us to feel like we were matching and really understanding each other. I was so glad I had that time with her.” So, how does Oliver, a naturally warm, open person tap into that paralysingly cerebral place that Frances operates from?

“I really enjoy interrogating and investigating things that feel far away from me. That was the joy of Frances – there was a little bit of both going on.” The dialogue for the show may have been sparse but Oliver built an entire inner life for her character that shows in the subtle looks and gestures interplayed between characters on screen.

“The book is from Frances’ head so it’s everything that she’s seen and it’s her interpretation of what’s happening , so I pulled that book apart. I was so blessed to have this Bible of her whole inner life, so I was constantly referencing it. The more that I read it, the more I knew how she felt about certain situations or moments.”

L-R: Sasha Lane, Joe Alwyn, Alison Oliver, and Jemima Kirke, the stars of Conversations with Friends

Did she feel the chemistry right off the bat with Alwyn? Their on-screen attraction is both physical and intellectual.

“I’m not even sure what chemistry is, it’s just a connection between people. I think that’s what you see on screen is us, just us playing and enjoying it.” Alice Birch’s nuanced script allowed for razor-sharp subtleties of character – every look or gesticulation seems deliberate. How did Oliver convey such big emotions with such small movements?

“Just letting myself think the thoughts. Knowing what you are thinking and allowing that to be changed by the people around you – that’s what I tried to do. That character is such an insular character, maybe you don’t know always know what she’s thinking but you know she is thinking.”

Coming into such a cast and crew of heavy hitters of the industry was a little intimidating at first for Oliver.

“Of course, I was nervous. I deeply cared about the project and about the character and I wanted to do my best. I was just like – I can’t believe I’m working with people I admire so much. I’d try to remind myself to not get bogged down by nerves and to see it as the wonderful thing that it was and to learn from them. They’re all so experienced and generous as actors. I really just tried to be open to watching them do their craft and learning from it.” 

The first TV adaptation of Rooney’s work marked a huge departure for sex scenes on Irish and international television and in so many ways, it paved the way for more honest, raw storytelling around relationships. Conversations with Friends hit the ground running by hiring the Normal People intimacy coach, Ita O’Brien. While a whole host of film sets pre-dating the #MeToo era have been mired in controversy regarding sexual misconduct, Oliver says that this set was very professional and that she felt “100% safe at all times.”

Sasha Lane and Alison Oliver in Conversations with Friends

Not only did O’Brien pioneer the role of intimacy coordinator on film and television sets, she also established a set of best practice guidelines for practitioners in the industry and introduced genital-shielding props to film sets. So, what exactly does an intimacy coordinator do? According to Oliver, there’s a lot of discussion around consent and expectations before any touching ever happens and to ensure that nothing touches anything it shouldn’t.

“Once you meet her, you’ll talk in depth about scenes that have an intimate nature and why we’re doing them. She’ll talk a lot about the quality of intimacy and the kind of story we’re trying to tell with this intimacy, which I think is really important. It’s very much about storytelling rather than showing – it’s very narrative-driven.” O’Brien looks at the beats of the scene says Oliver, and the “shapes you make to tell that story,” settling on a set of pre-agreed movements that look and feel authentic to the action and allow the actors to feel safe.

“By the time you actually do the scene, you’ve choreographed it so much and you feel the most safe you can. There’s such a respect and it’s handled in such a brilliant way.” Oliver is in London as we speak, working on a new show for the BBC called Best Interests. A recent Instagram photo shows her doing the unthinkable: pulling off a mullet hairstyle; an excellent actor, indeed.

• Conversations with Friends is a 12-part drama, created by Element Pictures due to air May 18 on RTÉ One at 9.35pm.