Mark finds new treasures as he revisits Howie the Rookie

Arts Week with Judy Murphy – judymurphy@ctribune.ie

A new production of Mark O’Rowe’s hit play, Howie the Rookie, starring Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, and directed by the author is proving to be one of the advance hits of this year’s Arts Festival.

It’s playing at An Taibhdhearc following a successful run in Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, where it opened last month. Mark O’Rowe is relieved at the response.

“You are going back to revisit it and you just hope it will stand up, he says about the piece, which premiered in 1999 at London’s Bush Theatre.

The reviews of the current production are indicating that it has stood the test of time. In fact some reviewers say it seems more relevant in ways now than it did at the height of the Celtic Tiger.

The brutal and darkly funny play, set in working-class Dublin, centres on two men who share the same surname and who never meet.

Howie Lee sets out to get revenge on Rookie Lee on the basis that Rookie inflicted scabies on Howie’s friends. That leads to a rollercoaster ride through Dublin’s dark side, where the audience encounters, among other sundry characters, a gangland thug and a ladyboy. 

This production is from Landmark Theatre Company, which co-produced the 2011 Arts Festival Hit, Misterman. Anne Clarke, who runs Landmark, approached Mark about the possibility of reviving it, with him as director – a job he had in 1999. As it happened, Mark was happy with Mike Bradwell’s original direction, but he felt the time was right for a new production and so this was a tempting offer – although one that required him to rethink the play.

“When I was offered the chance to direct it, I knew I’d have to come at it in a different way – otherwise it would be the second-best version,” he says. 

The actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (now best known as Nidge in Love/Hate) was mentioned for a role and that gave Mark the idea to have him play both characters, Howie and the Rookie.

“He’s an amazing actor,” says Mark, who realised that having Tom play both men would give the play a new dimension and make his work as director more interesting.

“I saw him in Saved at the Abbey and then after Love/Hate, I knew he was capable of so much as an actor that if I just gave him one of the characters it would be too easy for him. He’s a nuclear weapon in terms of acting!”

As director, the casting decision lay with Mark.

“As a director you get to call the shots. The first time [in the Bush] I was there all the time making notes, so you do have power, but you also have to let the directors and actors get on with it.”

Back then, Mark wanted to protect the play. “I knew it would be hard to figure out in terms of directing and I wasn’t even sure what I had written.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.