Eamonn Owens is around twenty and in the play Tadgh Stray Wandered In gives the kind of tour de force performance that will be a revelation to any readers of hotpress. No matter what age.

But then Owens has been almost eerily magnificent since he first burst into the public consciousness, at the age of only 13, playing the role of Francie Brady in Neil Jordan’s move The Butcher Boy. He subsequently appeared in The General, Angela’s Ashes, Magdalene Sisters and most recently the yet to be released The Boys From Clare – which stars the likes of Charlotte Bradley, Andrea Corr and Colm Meany. Eamonn’s TV appearances include Amongst Women, Bachelors Walk and The Big Wow Wow. But what’s most amazing about Tadgh Stray Wandered In is that it’s his first appearance on stage and it’s a one-man show. More than a little nerve-inducing, one imagines.
“Actually, I didn’t suffer much from nerves during the preview or the opening night but they are setting in now, with the challenge of trying to sustain the level of performance every night,” Eamonn responds, referring to the play’s current run in Dublin Project Theatre, prior to its nationwide tour.
“And part of the reason for the nerves is, I guess, the fact that I haven’t got much experience doing a long show over a couple of weeks. Before this my only experience in terms of stage was that I attended the Acting Course in Trinity College for a year, where I got my training. I wanted to learn about movement and voice and so on because I wanted to get into theatre, having had that break in film. After The Butcher Boy I went back to school but around the time I was in Third Year I decided I wanted to become an actor. And I started checking out courses. There is one in RADA, in London, but I went for the Trinity one because I wanted to stay in Dublin.”
Eamonn’s younger brother Ciaran Owens was, of course, acting too and appeared in films like Angela’s Ashes, Agnes Brown and television’s Ballykissangel. “Two abnormal kids from one family!” Eamonn jokes.
But he’s deadly serious about Tadgh Stray Wandered In, Michael Collins’ tragi-comic play about an Irish misfit who falls passionately in love with a French student and follows her to Paris. Partly because it gave him the chance to work with the Fishamble Theatre company and director Jim Culleton. He also loved the script.
“I wanted to play this part as soon as I read the script, the story-line just hooked me because we all have times like that in our lives when nothing seems to go right for you,” Eamonn explains.
“I think a lot of people who read hotpress would love this play.”
Particularly those who are obsessive romantics!
‘Yeah, but I never actually got the girl in anything I’ve acted in,” says Eamonn. “That’s probably the only reason I’m persisting! But, no, seriously, though I am involved with someone – and have had a girlfriend a long time – I understand this character. And I do take a tiny bit of myself and build on that. As in add observations about how I might see someone move on the street, hear them talk, listen as they run sentences together, whatever. Or I’ll take bits from books I read, like a twitch some writer might describe – all to make Tadgh more real.” b

Tadgh Stray Wandered In in plays The Cube at Project, Dublin until April 10