I'm flattered that Conor McPherson seems to have written this part in Port Authority for me. They sent me the script in New York, where I was doing Juno And The Paycock off Broadway. For someone so young (Conor is still in his twenties), he writes with tremendous wisdom and maturity, and also great delicacy. He's one of those people who does good by stealth: he casts this amazing spell over the audience.
It's a different piece from The Weir, for which I received an Olivier nomination for Best Actor. I then performed in the play on Broadway. It's in the monologue form, with three men (Jim Norton, Stephan Brennan and Eanna MacLiam, below) telling, as the title would indicate, an emotional journey. There's a young man who decides to go out and experience life and live it to the hilt; a middle-aged guy who takes a certain job to get him out of a marriage; and my character, Joe, a Dubliner living in a retirement home who feels it incumbent upon him to tell the audience of an extraordinary thing that has happened.
I feel I know who Joe is, the way I knew who Jack was in The Weir, without even needing to talk to Conor about it. Joe is someone who doesn't venture, he doesn't win. But at the same time he's aware of the possibility of love and how it can transform people ? that's a theme that obviously occupies Conor's mind.
This new play is like three degrees of separation: three characters who are totally separate and never communicate with each other, and yet they are inextricably connected in very, very subtle ways. It distils the essence of great theatre ? you want to know more.
Port Authority, previewing from Thur 15 Feb, New Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, WC2 (020-7369 1761).
