Ruth Leon recommends…Walking With Ghosts – Gabriel Byrne
Ruth Leon recommendsWalking With Ghosts – Gabriel Byrne
Click here for tickets : 25 Euros
On Demand 26 Feb – 4 March
I’m a fan of the Irish actor Gabriel Byrne. I’ve never met him but he has always seemed to me one of the few actors I’d like to sit down and talk with. This was confirmed when I read his autobiography, Walking With Ghosts, in one sitting. Now he’s made a theatrical adaptation of his best-selling book which was recorded live at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, directed by Emmy award-winning director Lonny Price.
He is, indeed, an unusually intelligent actor and more than that. He nearly became a priest but that didn’t work out and he turned to a variety of odd jobs, including plumbing, before finding, in drama, a place where this outsider could belong. Moving between sensual recollection of childhood in a now almost vanished Ireland and a commentary on stardom in Hollywood and on Broadway, Gabriel returns to Dublin, his home town, to reflect on a life’s journey. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Walking with Ghosts is a lyrical homage to the people and landscapes that ultimately shape our destinies.
The Ireland he describes so beautifully no longer exists but I love his descriptions of it.
Read more
Charisma and discretion….
Well, I ain’t forking out €25 for a TV show — it’s almost $36 C. But I share your appreciation of Gabriel Byrne, and I may dedicate part of a cold Saturday evening to Defence of the Realm or Secret State, my favourites of all his work that have seen. One of the greatest actors of the age.
I was lucky enough to meet him in Cardiff Bay while I was there celebrating my 60th Birthday. An absolutely charming man who didn’t hesitate when I asked him for a selfie. He was filming in nearby Newport and came down to the bay on a warm Sunday evening.