Actor gets big break in tribunal drama which may run and run

ALL actors dream of playing one of the great leading roles, like Hamlet, Macbeth or King Lear. But for Sligo-born Joe Taylor, the big break was landing the part of James Gogarty, chief protagonist in the Flood tribunal, now playing at Dublin Castle for an apparently unlimited run.

The 81-year-old Gogarty has emerged as the unlikely hero of the tragi-comedy, and Taylor's critically acclaimed performances on RTE Radio 1's Tonight with Vincent Browne show are part of the reason.

The morality of Mr Gogarty's own role in the matters under inquiry has become irrelevant to most listeners, who are instead caught up in the drama of a frail old man raging against his enemies; fighting a crusade for pension rights; and, perhaps most entertaining of all for the general public, turning into the witnessfrom-hell who drives some of the State's greatest legal minds to distraction.

Malcolm Douglas has enjoyed less of the limelight than Taylor, his accent - slightly redolent of the Law Library - lending itself to the parts of many of the supporting cast of barristers.

But as the basso profundo voice of Garrett Cooney SC, counsel for JMSE, he too has emerged in recent weeks, his performance reaching a seemingly tragic climax on Thursday in the dust-up with Mr Justice Flood (also played by Taylor).

Indeed, as Vincent Browne arrived for the show that night, he offered his condolences to Douglas, who had seen his main character apparently written out of the script.

But, in one of the most credibility-stretching twists since Dallas revived Bobby Ewing, Mr Cooney was back on the set yesterday, and the show is set to continue as normal next week.

Taylor and Douglas record most of their work before the nightly broadcasts, for comfort and legal safety. And while it's not possible to take liberties with the official transcript, tribunal reality is cleaned up a little for radio, as Taylor explains.

"Mr Justice Flood coughed his way through the statement on Cooney, maybe because he was a bit nervous. But I didn't do that on radio because it would sound like a mistake.

"And we also do the stuff faster than it actually happens. What would take five minutes in the studio would take maybe 8 1/2 minutes in reality."

A confessed tribunal junkie now, the actor spends mornings at Flood and afternoons at Moriarty, dashing back and forth as breaks allow.

The Browne show also features extracts from Moriarty, but as Taylor explains, while the payments-to-politicians inquiry is undoubtedly good tribunal, it's not such good radio.

"One night Malcolm had to read a passage and it was all: `There was one cheque for one thousand six hundred and forty eight pounds and twenty seven pence, and another cheque for . . .' It was terrible on air, but it was essential to the day's business. Flood is much more confrontational, which suits radio."

Taylor's chameleon voice covers the tribunal spectrum, from the bluff, broad tones of Ben Dunne to the thin, nervous ones of Ciaran Haughey. But one of the things listeners miss is his actions, especially when he does Gogarty: leaning across the table and gripping the far side of it with his left hand, or going through documents in the fussy manner so irritating to his questioners.

This seems like a case of doing Irish dancing on the radio, but Taylor finds it helps the performance. And after Gogarty made his "I'm in the dock now, am I?" outburst last week, the actor faithfully repeated it in the studio, rising from his chair like an angry 81-year-old, so that listeners would get the sense of the voice fading off the microphone.

The script poses occasional problems which in any other form of theatre would demand rewriting. A much-quoted line from Ben Dunne - "Me was Dunne Stores" - made perfect sense in the light of earlier exchanges. "But on its own, it made him sound like a knuckle-dragger," says the actor.

They had another problem this week, when counsel accused Gogarty of trying to "resile" from an earlier position. "We hadn't come across the word before and we didn't know if we'd heard it right.

"But then Gogarty replied `Did I what?' so we didn't have to worry about the listeners."

Both freelance actors, Taylor and Douglas have had parts in Ballykissangel, where they presumably picked up tips on how to maintain dangerous chemistry levels between the main characters.

Taylor will shortly also be seen in Animal Farm, in which he plays the role of the Hitler-moustached Farmer Fredericks.

It's presumed their work has boosted the show's ratings, but there are no figures yet to prove it.