Ross O’Carroll-Kelly makes his first visit to the heartland of Munster rugby here in Limerick at the end of March. Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, the deluded affluent snobbish Dublin 4 rugby jock, is a fictional creation of multi award-winning novelist Paul Howard. The Ross O’Carroll-Kelly column first appeared in The Sunday Tribune in 1998 and has since spawned more than 15 novels, a spoken word CD and three plays.
Breaking Dad
‘Breaking Dad’ premiered in 2014 and has already seen record-breaking sales of over 45,000 tickets, rave reviews and standing ovations every night.
Limerick Post spoke to Rory Nolan who plays the part of Ross in ‘Breaking Dad’.
This new show is set in 2022. Bertie Ahern is running for Taoiseach again, Ireland is going through the Celtic Phoenix and another upsurge to the economy. Ross is a family man with his wife Sorcha, four kids and his grown up scobe son from the Northside. Things are going to plan if you are an O’Carroll-Kelly so far ….
“Be it booms or recessions, things don’t change for Ross O’Carroll-Kelly. We love watching Ross fall on his face but we love to see him succeed as well,” laughs Rory Nolan who has played the part of Ross since the first stage adaptation in 2007 of ‘The Last Days of The Celtic Tiger’.
Rory Nolan has inhabited the character for nine years, a long time in the world of Irish theatre. Rory just finished playing in an Oscar Wilde play and a Shakespearean production before that, so is playing a character like Ross O’Carroll-Kelly a very different experience?
“Well every character gets the same investment. Playing to sold-out audiences that are falling out of their seats laughing, it is pretty special for an actor to be able to say the lines and get those reactions. I always guarantee friends and family that you will laugh non stop for two hours at a Ross show.”
Ross .. A sort of Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin of Dublin rugby
For Rory, the Ross character has been a touchstone. They are the same age and growing up, Ross was always there, in books, in the newspaper column.
“The column came out as I was coming to the end of my rugby playing days in school. I felt a certain affinity. I’m from same place in Dublin I went to UCD where I was on the observation deck seeing a lot of people like Ross. Watching them at first hand, there was lots to draw on when it came to playing him.”
For what is basically Dublin centric character, Ross O’Carroll-Kelly is a national phenomenon, a sort of Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin of Dublin rugby. A character perhaps that cannot be underplayed?
“Yes, but ultimately you also have to find something real within him as well. You have to get an audience to invest in that. Paul Howard’s column, the books and the play are just hilarious and everyone in the country knows exactly what he is talking about.
“The fact that Limerick is such a rugby town, they will all be able to laugh at the big gobshite from Dublin.”
‘Breaking Dad’ plays at University Concert Hall from Tuesday March 29 to Saturday April 2.
More information at http://www.uch.ie/
