First encounters

In conversation with FRANCES O'ROURKE

WAYNE JORDAN

is an associate artist of the Abbey Theatre, and director of The Plough and the Stars, which opens on August 1st. He recently directed Alice in Funderland at the Abbey. and has also directed at the Gate Theatre, The Project and is artistic director of Randolf SD. From Donaghmede, he lives near the Phoenix Park in Dublin

‘I HAD A WONDERFUL music teacher called Mary Melody in St Paul’s in Raheny; she was the musical director of Jesus Christ Superstar, which St Paul’s put on in transition year, with girls from Holy Faith in Clontarf. I was 15, Kathleen was 16.

“I was the superstar, yes.

“Kathleen and I got to know each other slowly. I remember she used to wear dungarees to rehearsals and was very beautiful when she was young, is very beautiful now and I thought I’d be friends with her. There was something pure and fun about her, and when she hit the dance numbers, she was very enthusiastic; I was very drawn to her. So then we started hanging around together, had the same kind of interests, a leaning towards the arts. She introduced me to classical studies and I did them for the Leaving Cert too. It was a big part of steering me towards studying theatre.

“She had a huge influence in that way and our relationship bloomed. I wasn’t out when I first met Kathleen although I had some romantic relationships. But we were just friends. Kathleen was very central to my life at a time when a lot of things were coming together for me, when I was heading towards coming out, allowing myself to be interested in the arts, not feeling that as a boy, I had to do something else.

“Kathleen was not afraid to say the unpleasant things that were sometimes in her mind, would give voice to the anxieties that everyone has as a teenager, and I found that liberating. She introduced me to the TV show My So-Called Life with Claire Danes, who played a teenager talking about her anxieties, and I thought Kathleen was a bit like her character. It was the idea of trying to discover yourself, what we might be, what was going on inside us. I felt very allowed with Kathleen.

“We met at that time when you first start to turn to your friends instead of family for support so those bonds fall really deep. There have been a lot of times in our lives when Kathleen and I haven’t seen each other for a while but we fall back in so easily. I think we recognise something in each other.

“It wasn’t just about the theatre, it was more about being caught in the swirl of a mad world that we hadn’t made sense of yet and meeting someone who said ‘yes, isn’t this mad, let’s try and make sense of it’. Meeting someone at a time when you’re in such a hurry to be a grown-up and someone else is in the same hurry and trying to go ‘We’ll get there, it’ll be okay.‘

“I don’t think Kathleen getting married will change that, Niall’s a lovely guy. I think we’ll know each other forever.”

KATHLEEN WALSH

is a doctor who has just finished her third year of surgical training. After studying history and politics in Trinity College Dublin, she lived in New York and Paris before returning to Dublin to study medicine, From Raheny, she now lives in Smithfield, Dublin

‘WAYNE AND I MET when we were both in transition year: his school, St Paul’s in Raheny, was putting on a musical and they were looking for girls from my school, Holy Faith in Clontarf. It was Jesus Christ Superstar and Wayne was Jesus; I was apostle wife number 12.

“I can’t remember the first time we talked, but we eventually gravitated towards each other. Wayne wasn’t out at that stage, but I pretty much knew – there was no question in my mind that he’d be interested in me, although many girls fancied him. He says I wore dungarees and he thought we might be in the same boat.

“Wayne is larger than life and even then, seemed so sure of who he was. He was very confident, never had any problem talking to teachers. After the play was over, we became very close, would have been best friends. I lived across the road from St Paul’s, on Sybil Hill in Raheny, so he got to know my family too.

“It was the first time I met someone who I got and who got me. Our interests were very similar. I felt trapped in school, felt I didn’t fit in, had to work hard to fit. But with Wayne I could be myself completely.

“He knew I wanted to do medicine but might not be eligible. He sat me down and suggested I go for history and politics in Trinity, so we could both be there together. In the end, I got in a year ahead of him, so went to TCD by myself, and had the time of my life there. We drifted apart a bit because he was a year behind me, studying drama – we had different lives.

“After college I went to New York on the J1, temping, worked in Dublin for a bit, went to Paris for six months, then came home and decided to have a crack at doing medicine. At that point I was only in touch with Wayne on and off; there was no Facebook then, and Wayne was terrible at answering his mobile, was always losing it. Any time I did bump into him, he had a mountain of ideas, I’m going to do this and this – and he gets it done.

“He’d let me know when his plays were on, so I’d go to them and meet up afterwards and have great fun. His plays are great, they’re such fun, so properly put together.

“Now we live near each other in Dublin. He’ll be a groomsman at my wedding in September: my fiance, Niall Baneham, is a teacher. Niall loves Wayne’s plays, wanted to go back to Alice in Funderland again he loved it so much.

“We met Wayne recently to discuss the wedding – he said, it’s just like a play, what do you want me to do?

“He has already suggested someone for my make-up, cars, hair – he’s always full of ideas.

“He’s a generous spirit. We still get each other: Wayne is one of my oldest, closest friends.”