Greene shoots

She stole the show in 'Phaedra', is excellent in 'Big Maggie', will be on the Abbey stage next spring and fizzes with exuberant energy. What's not to like about Sarah Greene, asks UNA MULLALLY

SARAH GREENE is human dynamite. Bristling with energy and raucous laughter, she exudes fun. Even while she is being photographed as the relentless wind howls through the Italian Quarter in Dublin, she jokes and strikes mock- Vogueposes, dressed down in an oversized sweater, tied-up hair and a scrap of make-up.

In more serious settings, when you mention her name to theatre directors, producers and writers, they nod knowingly, like a diamond dealer glimpsing a large uncut stone.

"It's sold out everywhere we go; full houses and standing ovations. It's a great play, like." She's talking about being on tour with John B Keane's Big Maggie, in which she plays Gert. The Corkonian "like" punctuates every sentence.

With the success of Big Maggie, which continues touring into next year, Greene is growing in confidence and ability, and heads that hadn't already been turned by her talent have started to glance her way.

Greene, from Glanmire in Cork, started acting at the age of six with the CADA Performing Arts Academy. Since graduating from the Gaiety School of Acting, in 2006, she has been on a roll.

She played Sorcha in the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly play Between Foxrock and a Hard Placelast April, appeared in Phaedrafor Rough Magic at last year's Dublin Theatre Festival, and appeared in Peer Gyntat this year's festival.

Next year, she will be on the Abbey stage in Alice in Funderland. She also played Amber in the multi-award-winning Little Gemfor two years alongside Anita Reeves and Hilda Fay. "Do you know what? I'd love to go back and do it again because, looking back on it, I don't think I was that good in it," Greene says. "I'd love to go back and be better in it. It was the best learning I've ever had . . . just owning the language, which is the most important thing in theatre, making the audience believe that these are your words . . ."

She has also been in several Druid productions, including The Year of the Hiker, The Playboy of the Western Worldand The Empress of India, and in Big Maggieshe is once again directed by Garry Hynes.

“When I finished working with her about three or four years ago I didn’t really have a voice. I didn’t know what I wanted to say as an actor then, whereas now I think I do, or at least I know my own voice. I know what I think a character should be, whereas before I would have been too afraid to say anything. So I was really excited going back working.”

She flicks her hair and does jazz hands, saying, “I am ready! I am ready to take you on, Garry Hynes,” and cackling with laughter before sobering. “I am never ready to take on Garry Hynes. She’s an amazing director,” she says, eyes widening.

While touring with Little Gem, Greene signed to an agent in London. She puts on a Hollywood-voiceover accent to announce his name, "Dallas Smith". Smith also represents Kate Winslet and Sienna Miller. "He's amazing," Greene says. "Once I finish 'Alice' I'm going to take a little break and try to focus on [film and TV], because, let's face it, I'm not getting any younger, even though I look 12."

Twelve is pushing it, but Greene is remarkably fresh-faced.

She has just come from auditioning for a teenage role. “I’m 27. Baby face. Like, the audition for today was a 17-year-old. They asked, ‘What age are you?’ and I said, ‘What age do you think I am?’ ‘About 20’, and I said ‘Yeah, about 20’. If you tell them you’re 27, they say ‘Oh, she can’t play a 17-year-old,’ but then when you’re going for other parts they say, ‘Oh, you’re too young.’ They thought I was too young to play a prostitute against Brendan, which is fair enough.”

Brendan is Brendan Gleeson, with whom Greene acted in The Guard. "When we were down shooting it, I was very nervous because it was the first day shooting for everybody, the day we did the bedroom scene," Greene says. "I had to climb up on top of Brendan, and it was shot from behind and it wasn't very flattering. So I had to just climb up on one leg instead, because he's enormous, like. But he was lovely. I'm also good friends with his sons, so that was a bit weird. Here's my friend's Da, howdy."

Back to Alice, which is her next project, and one she speaks about at length. Alice in Funderlandcomes to the Abbey in March. A musical written by Phillip McMahon and produced by Jennifer Jennings, both of Thisispopbaby, directed by Wayne Jordan and composed by Raymond Scannell, it will be a landmark for the Abbey to present such a contemporary piece of work soaked in pop culture.

“Joe Duffy’s lines will be hopping,” Greene says, “but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. And I think it’ll bring a whole new audience into the Abbey . . . It’s brilliant. Just being with it from the start, it’s pretty terrific. I’m terribly excited about it.”

Singing for a six-week run will be tough, though. “I’m sh**ting it,” Greene says. “I’m nervous about my voice holding out. We’re actors who can sing; we’re not singers . . . I suffer from laryngitis so I’m terrified that will happen to me. I’ll have to look after myself. If I stop drinking and smoking, I’ll be grand.”

SHE DOESN’T HAVE much down time, but when she does, she says, “I go travelling around. I hang out with my best friend, Conor. I go to the theatre. I play Scrabble. That’s it, really.”

She took the summer off because her boyfriend, the actor Aidan Turner (who has appeared in Being Human, The Clinicand Desperate Romantics) was back from shooting The Hobbit in New Zealand. He's home for Christmas and then filming again until June, which must be tough for a couple. "Well, that's the job we do," Greene says. "We'll always travel with work. Skype is great, and we're getting on brilliantly. It's been actually quite easy because we're both working. If I wasn't working it would be a lot harder."

It looks as if brighter lights than Temple Bar will continue to beckon, but the memory she treasures the most is last January's showing of Alice in Funderlandin Dublin as a work in progress, providing one of the most exhilarating moments in Irish theatre this year.

“The feeling with Alice when we did that reading in the Project was the most excited I’ve ever felt on stage. That blew my mind. I was on a high. I walked home in my high heels up Pearse Street – very dangerous – listening to Rihanna. I was taking over the world that day! I was on the biggest buzz I’ve ever been on in my life. And I’ve been on some buzzes.”

She collapses with laughter again, then goes back out into the wind for coffee and a cigarette.

Greene's giants

Favourite Irish actor"Cillian Murphy. I saw him in Mistermanduring the summer and he just blew my mind. It's the most riveting hour and a half I've ever had in my life. He's absolutely incredible. I'm mesmerised by him. You don't hear much about him in the papers. He's a family man . . . He's a real actor. He's about his art."

Favourite international actor"Michelle Williams. She's incredible in Blue Valentine. I'm dying to see My Week with Marilyn."

Actor she'd most like to work with"Jack Nicholson. I love him. I think I'd be terrified, but I'd love to work with him."

Director she'd most like to work with"Shane Meadows." Greene played Rose in My Brothers, a film by Meadows's writing partner Paul Fraser.