Druid revives hit production of ‘darkly hilarious’ Godot

Versatile is one word that describes actor Rory Nolan. Talented is another. And diligent is apt as well. Not to mention comic – that’s a particular strength of the Dubliner, who cut his professional teeth in Galway in 2003 in Tom Murphy’s adaptation of The Drunkard for that year’s Arts Festival.

Rory recently played Ross O’Carroll Kelly in Postcards from the Ledge, Landmark Theatre’s latest stage adaptation of Paul Howard’s iconic books about the snobbish South Dublin rugby fanatic. He’s been the face of the alacadoo for the past 10 years but this production at the Gaiety was different in that it was a one-man show, which he describes as “really interesting and great fun”.

Rory has also been doing “a little bit of work” with Fishamble Theatre on a show marking the 200th anniversary of the GPO and he’s also “doing a bit of development work with the Abbey”, working on a new play with the national theatre.

He’s not a man to overstate his achievements, then. But there’s lots to celebrate in an acting CV that includes working with all the country’s major theatre companies, including Druid. As a member of the Druid Ensemble of actors, he has appeared in that company’s epic productions, DruidMurphy and DruidShakespeare and its 2015 hit production of Samuel Beckett’s classic, Waiting for Godot.  That will return to Galway next month, when it will play the Town Hall Theatre as part of a national tour.

Rory plays Pozzo, the foppish bully, coward and philosophiser in the production. It’s directed by Garry Hynes, and the revival sees him reunited with fellow Ensemble members Aaron Monaghan and Marty Rea (Estragon and Vladimir) and Garret Lombard, who plays the unfortunate Lucky, Pozzo’s put-upon slave.

Vladimir and Estragon are on a country road, by a tree, waiting for the elusive Godot to arrive. It’s evening and as they wait, they discuss life and their various ailments. They converse and bicker and are eventually interrupted by the arrival of Lucky and Pozzo. Pozzo, a larger than life character, filled with self-importance and superiority, brandishes a whip and a rope. He treats Lucky abominably, forcing him to dance, and then to think. But his pomposity and self-importance make him a comic figure too – later, Pozzo is tragi-comic, even pathetic.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.