In the opening sequences of In Production: Joe Dowling At The Guthrie, a new documentary which chronicles his production of Friel's Philadelphia! Here I Come, Dowling is being driven to Dublin Airport. Like Gar in the play, he is leaving home for a new life and a new job and is both excited and sad at leaving.
Directed by William Pohlad, the documentary shot over six months observes him not only settling into his job, but also settling into a new environment in a different country. A lively, talkative, business-like man, Dowling's personality guarantees his success in working with a team. It is his fifth time to direct Philadelphia!. Just as the Guthrie Theatre was so important to the young Friel who had visited this theatre in the 1960s, so Philadelphia! created a lasting impression on the 16-year-old Dowling who had seen the Abbey production in 1964.
The behind-the-scenes sequences could be anywhere; we are familiar with Dowling, we know the play. But the difference is that although we see Dowling working with Donal Donnelly, now playing the father, but who remains the definitive Gar Private, this production takes the stage in an American theatre, before American audiences, some American cast members and an American crew. There are additional pressures: administrative issues as well as artistic ones. Publicity shots, which he doesn't enjoy, must be posed for; he has to remember to mention the right names.
Conscious that he is not an Irish artistic director, but an artistic director, Dowling also points out that although he is approaching a play he knows so well, the object of theatre is "keeping it alive for the moment". The rehearsal stage begins with a reading of the play. The humour is caught, but an element of confrontation increasingly undercuts the atmosphere. The two Gars are played by young American actors who had not even been born when Dowling first became aware of this play and tensions do arise. It's about "How is it done now?" Speaking of the conflicts which can develop between actor and director, Dowling stresses the need to be able to say, even to players who have performed a role many times, "excuse me - could we try this?"
Actors often change lines - sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. "And if you change a word of Friel," he cautions, "it sounds wrong, he's always right." In the rehearsal room, Dowling, a very physical, involved director, studies his actors, watches their responses and listens. "Theatre is about writing and directing," he says. He tries to close the distance between the cast and himself; for him the director is not the primary force.
While the actors work and re-work, at times with some exasperation, the crew members are working on the set and props. It's time to transfer to the auditorium. "Some productions just don't make it from the rehearsal room to the stage. They die," he says. Timing continues to preoccupy him until opening night. At the final curtain call, he looks relieved and then dashes off to a reception as busy artistic directors must do.
Production: Joe Dowling At The Guthrie will be screened on RTE 1 on Monday, November 24th.
