 |
| Alan Rickman and Anna Massey in Thomas Kilroy's version of "The Seagull", P103/115 |
The news of the passing of actor
Alan Rickman was extremely sad news for the vast amounts of people who had
followed Rickman's varied career over forty years on stage and screen. Rickman,
69, was acclaimed for being one of the great character actors of his generation
with a canny ability to enthral his audiences, from young and old, from fans of Harry
Potter to Dogma or as an unequivocal De Valera in Michael Collins. Such was Rickman's
charisma and presence, with an always distinct voice, was an ability to transform
even a supporting character into a memorable and major role. You may not always
remember the film but you always remember Rickman's character
and all the great lines. (Sheriff of Nottingham: "That's it then. Cancel
the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings . . . and
call off Christmas!" (Robin Hood –
Prince of Thieves)
Rickman like so many screen stars
began his career on stage and throughout a glittering Hollywood career
maintained a successful stage curriculum vitae. Rickman was reported to be a
pupil of renown at RADA and developed his craft on the fringe and regional circuit
of the UK in the late 1970s and 1980s. Michael Billington, theatre critic of The Guardian notes that:
All this came
to the fore in a golden period at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the
mid-1980s when he was a stubbly, neurotic Achilles in Troilus and Cressida and a mockingly cynical Jaques in As You Like It. But it was his
performance as the dissolute Valmont, successively in Stratford, London and New
York, that elevated him to star status. Playing opposite Lindsay Duncan’s
Marquise de Merteuil, Rickman conveyed both the lassitude of the practised
seducer and the growing self-disgust of a man aware of his destructiveness."
 |
| Poster from the Royal Court production of "The Seagull" starring Alan Rickman. P103/115 |
It was during this time that
Rickman would perform in a play by Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy. Directed by
Max Stafford Clarke, the play was premiered at the Royal Court on 8 April 1981.
The play would have its Irish premiere, produced by the Irish Theatre Company
at Siamsa Tíre Theatre, Tralee on 30th September 1981.
The idea of the version of
Chekhov's classic to be translated and moved from the Russian provinces and set
in the West of Ireland case from the director of the Royal Court, Max
Stafford-Clarke. He wrote to Kilroy as follows:
"Dear Tom, I have been talking with Joe Dowling about the
possibility of the Royal Court and the Abbey mounting a joint production of THE
SEAGULL. The idea is that the play should be cast with English and with Irish
actors and instead of being set in Russia, should be set in the midst of an
Anglo-Irish family . . . Would you be interested in doing a translation and
would you have time for it?”
The adaptation that Kilroy would
write featured Alan Rickman as Mr. Aston and the cast would also feature
Harriet Walter, Alan Devlin and others. Within the Thomas Kilroy archive at the
Hardiman Library, NUI Galway, the production files for Kilroy's Seagull offer a wonderful account of the
development, writing and drafting of the play that stemmed from
Stafford-Clarke's single letter. Billington would write in his 1981 review of
the Royal Court London production: It is
a fine performance superbly backed by Alan Rickman's Aston."
Rickman's star ability to make any
character and indeed any production his own and ensure it is most memorable for
his audiences must be among the highest tributes for any actor. Both stage and
screen will be far poorer with the loss of Rickman.
The Thomas Kilroy Archive is available at the Hardiman Library, NUI Galway and a catalogue is available to read here: http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/cgi-bin/FramedList.cgi?P103
 |
| Cover of rehearsal script of "The Seagull" by Thomas Kilroy, for production at the Royal Court theatre, London. P103/115 |
