WRITER PROFILE

Theo Dorgan interviews the Dublin-born dramatist and memoirist Hugh Leonard. He has enjoyed a long and successful career as a playwright, novelist, screenwriter and columnist and is well known for his journalism. "I was always a playwright waiting to write, I remember this feeling when I went to see O'Casey's 'Plough and The Stars' as a young man in the Abbey".

Leonard tells Theo about his early writings like his first play at the Abbey 'The Big Birthday', writing for radio 'The Kennedys of Castleross' and his epic TV series to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 rising 'Insurrection'.

His first major success came in 1978, when his play, 'Da', was performed on Broadway and won a number of Tony awards. Some say it is his best work, a vivid, unsentimental re-visitation of his Dalkey childhood written with great charm and humour.

In the interview, he discusses the impact this massive success had on his life and how he views the film version that was made in the 1980s. "I work on my instincts, I don't know where the play is going until the second act, only then would I begin to see the ending".

He is candid about his successes and failures and seems to view his work with a detached, affectionate eye. His other works include two volumes of memoirs, 'Home Before Night' (1979) and 'Out After Dark' (1989).

A controversial figure, he has had his fair share of criticism, but he remains hugely popular with the theatre-going public. His most recent play, 'Love in the Title', was staged at the Abbey.


Biographical Details

Hugh Leonard (1926 - ) playwright born Dalkey, County Dublin. Pseudonym of John Keyes Byrne, educated at Presentation College, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin. He shares with Brian Friel the distinction of being the most successful Irish dramatist since the 1950s.

Leonard worked for the Land Commission from 1945 to 1959, discovered the theatre and became a script editor for Granada Television and then literary editor of the Abbey Theatre.

Although he has written scores of stage plays, he has achieved international acclaim through his television scripts and film work. The poignant 'Da', written in 1973 and subsequently filmed, is arguably his masterpiece and enjoys frequent revivals.

His television scripts include 'Strumpet City '(1979), 'The Irish RM' (1985), 'Troubles' (1987) and 'Parnell and the Englishwoman' (1988).

Film work includes 'Herself Surprised' (1977), 'Da' (1984) and 'Widows Peak' (1994).

Leonard has also written two volumes of autobiography, 'Home, Before Night' (1979) and 'Out After' (1988); a memoir - 'Rover and Other Cats' (1990) - and a novel, 'The Off-Shore Island' (1993).


BUY VHS DIRECT FROM LOOPLINE

Running Time: 30mins
Year Made: 1999
Price: €20 - PAL (European), €30 - NTSC (US) plus P&P