Playwright David Ireland has recalled the “bizarre” experience of hanging out with Hollywood star Keanu Reeves at Dundee Rep, as he prepares to return to the theatre with his new play, The Fifth Step.
“I was an actor in the Dundee Rep Ensemble when Keanu Reeves came to see The Cherry Orchard,” says award-winning playwright David, who made his name offstage with 2016 play Cyprus Avenue.
“He was in a film about Chekov, about The Cherry Orchard, and he was doing research.
“The story was, he flew over from LA to London to see the production at the National Theatre, and someone there told him Dundee Rep had a production on and it was worth going to see.
“So he flew up to Dundee to meet us all and ask us about The Cherry Orchard, then he hung about afterwards and bought us all drinks.
“It was a bizarre experience, Keanu Reeves turning up out of nowhere and hanging around in the Dundee Rep bar.”
That’s a claim to fame, not that Ireland hasn’t had many more. What was Reeves like?
“He was lovely. I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to him, but he was as you’d expect, he very much matched his public persona.
“He was very friendly and normal and gentlemanly.”
Jack Lowden to star in new play at Rep
As well as meeting A-listers in the theatre bar, David has made a habit of getting stars of the screen into his plays.
Stephen Rea appeared as a loyalist paramilitary in Cyprus Avenue – dubbed “the most shocking play on the London stage” when it transferred from Dublin in 2016 – and Woody Harrelson and Andy Serkis took to the stage in the version of his Ulster American which recently went to London.
Next up, his play The Fifth Step brings Slow Horses stars Jack Lowden and Sean Gilder to Dundee for a story of two men confronting their relationship with alcohol from different ends of a generational gap.
Showing for just one night in preview at the Rep, before transferring to Edinburgh International Festival in a National Theatre of Scotland production, Ireland’s return to Dundee brings him full circle.
David’s fond memories of Lochee digs
Raised in Belfast and now based in Glasgow, via some time in London, Ireland was an actor before he made the shift into playwriting.
For four of those years he worked at Dundee Rep and lived in the city – he knows it well and has very fond memories of the place.
“James Brining was the Rep’s artistic director at the time, and he’d been the artistic director at TAG in Glasgow, where he gave me one of my first jobs,” recalls Ireland.
“When he took over at Dundee he got me up to do a Sam Shepard play called A Lie of the Mind, and I loved it. I’d never been to Dundee before, but as a city I just loved the place.
“Even though I was living in Glasgow, I ended up staying in my Dundee digs the whole time, mainly in Lochee for a few years, then on the Perth Road and in Hilltown.
As well as the theatre, David reveals the DCA was a regular haunt to wind down after busy days.
“I really loved the DCA,” he says. “You were so busy with all the shows, old-fashioned Rep – rehearsing all day and performing at night, so you didn’t have a lot of free time.
“Any time I did have, I went straight to the DCA and watched a movie, it was like a home from home. There was a really brilliant fish and chip shop right beside the Rep, as well.”
David draws from own journey with drink
The Fifth Step also looks back to Ireland’s younger years, in a way.
He says he’d never have labelled himself as an alcoholic, but he gave up drinking when he was 23 because it was becoming a problem.
The conversations between Lowden and Gilder’s characters almost act as him talking to his younger self, although they’re not so much about dealing with alcohol as they are coming to terms with life without it.
“For our generation, there was something nihilistic and self-destructive about alcohol, you just wanted to get messed up,” says Ireland.
“I’m sure a lot of the younger generation still do that, but it doesn’t seem as frequent as it did for ours. When I was 20, and it’s also a struggle the character has in the play, people were telling me, you need to stop drinking, you’re out of control.
“Then when I did stop everybody was like, we didn’t mean for you to stop completely, take a drink! That Chewin’ the Fat sketch is really accurate, that’s what it feels like.”
Shamless actor Sean shines in role
The idea for the play has been with Ireland for many years, but the fact it’s been written now is because Lowden – a Scot, and one of the UK’s hottest young actors – asked the National Theatre of Scotland to have Ireland write a play for him.
“The two of them are just brilliant together, they play really well off each other,” says the playwright of the men bringing his words to life.
“I mean, Jack’s a brilliant screen actor, but seeing him on stage is something else, he’s really phenomenal. I remember seeing him in War and Peace and thinking, who is this guy?
“Since then I’ve followed his career, so it was fortuitous that he was interested in working with me.
“Sean’s a really strong actor too, I remember seeing him in Shameless years ago (Gilder played Paddy Maguire) and I knew he was a hugely respected theatre actor, plus I’d seen him in Slow Horses.
“There’s a mutual admiration between the three of us, I hope. Even if the play’s rubbish, you’ll see two great performances – but I don’t think it is, I think it’s really good.”
The Fifth Step is at Dundee Rep on Saturday August 17, before transferring to the Edinburgh international Festival later this month. dundeerep.co.uk
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