The Derry Yank

Derry Journal

Derry actors Gerry Doherty, Pat Lynch and Maeve Connolly talk about Eamonn Lynch's poignant comedy-drama, The Derry Yank, which will be staged at Derry's Millennium Forum on Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28.

Transcript

00:00Well I'm with the three cast members of the Derry Yank here down at Da Vinci's

00:05and they just want to talk a wee bit about the play which is on on the 27th

00:11and the 28th of June. Let me start with you Jerry. You play Merton Duffy, the

00:17title character of the Derry Yank. Tell us a little bit about Merton Duffy and the

00:21play. Merton's a typical Derry man that went away years ago to America and never

00:27come back. He sort of disappeared off the scene and then he comes back. So the

00:33whole play is about why he come back and why he went away in the first place. Had he a

00:38few secrets maybe? Well I mean he could have. You need to come to a play to see

00:42those and hear them. Okay. Maeve, you play Maggie Kelly. Tell us a little about her and how she

00:49fits in with Ciaran McGowan who Pat plays and Merton Duffy who Jerry plays. Well she

00:55is the star of the show obviously. Maggie doesn't miss a bar. She'd get in where the tide wouldn't

01:04sort of thing. Quite feisty. Enjoys the crack with her friend. Bit nosy on it but she's well

01:14able to handle him. She's a wee eye for this boy, the Derry Yank. Why not? She's a feisty character.

01:22She's had quite a past and that's a brilliant arc for my acting experience. You know there's

01:29a, do you not understand, I'll explain what that means later. You know she's been through

01:35a lot and she comes through a lot. Right. And you can understand why she is like she

01:40is because of what she's been through. So she's got a while important story to tell.

01:44Over to you Pat. You play Ciaran McGowan in the Derry Yank and I think it's fair to say

01:48he's a fairly complex character. Can you tell us a wee bit about him? Well, complex. Well

01:55he's a... Not the temple, more complex now. Ciaran McGowan's still annoyed after 45 years due

02:03to the circumstances under which Martin left. And I think that very fact alone would give

02:09insight into his character, you know. He holds a grudge. His resentment and his anger, however,

02:16is sort of manifested in Derry humour. Yeah. Which is a sort of standard thing. And he has

02:20a fairly interesting type of logic throughout the play. Well, this would be it. You need

02:24to come and listen to the logic, you know, because some of his logic is quite illogical.

02:29Okay. Now, the thing about it is that when the humour is mainly in the interactions between

02:38Martin and Ciaran, and to a lesser extent, the humour with Maggie here, the actual drama

02:47in the play is revealed as it goes along, you know. And that's where you'll find the real

02:54drama in their backstories. Okay. That's grand. I'm going to leave it

02:58at Scrant. I'm going to leave it at that. It was great to talk to you and I'm sure the

03:02potential audience will be glad to see you. Maybe the last word to Gerry, given that you're

03:05the title character. What's your advice to anybody thinking about coming to see this play?

03:11My advice is come along and have a great night, you know, and get in, get early, buy your ticket

03:18and you will definitely. Will they laugh?

03:21Will they laugh? And might they cry?

03:23Look at his face. I mean, why wouldn't they laugh? And look at her face and why wouldn't they

03:26cry? Right. Well, that's probably a good place to end it. Thank you.

03:30Thanks so much.

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