[dropcap]S[/dropcap]haun Dunne started writing and producing work from a young age, quickly gaining critical acclaim and support for productions such as I am a Home Bird (It’s Very Hard) and Death of the Tradesman with his company Talking Shop Ensemble. More recent work includes a collaboration produced in last year’s Dublin Theatre Festival, I’ve To Mind Her, and a favourite from this year’s Fringe, Advocacy. Dunne’s most recent play, marks a key moment in the writer’s career: his Abbey debut as the first playwright to be produced by their New Playwrights Program.
The Waste Ground Party, currently playing at the Peacock, concerns a Dublin estate in which its occupants are troubled with restlessness within their surroundings. The play asks difficult questions about the condition of Dublin as a city and the constraints of home, among many other skillfully depicted issues. This is no new achievement for Dunne, however, who, at eighteen, wrote his first play titled Killed By Curriculum, a work he admits to being “really bad — it was about the Leaving Cert, and Sylvia Plath”. That said, Dunne was already interrogating pointed subject matter. “It was about [how] I thought it was strange that we were studying somebody who had a severe mental health problem and we were studying it in a points system. D’you know what I mean? So, ‘How well do you understand Sylvia Plath?’ ‘Ok: a hundred points, you can go to college.’ What was that about?”
Ultimately, until you’ve run a national theatre in this climate, you won’t understand why it’s dark.
Since Dunne’s adolescent effort at exploring the socially problematic, his subsequent work as a professional writer has grown more sophisticated, such as Home Bird which addressed the crisis of Irish immigration, while Dunne’s autobiographical Death of the Tradesman investigated the personal difficulties of unemployment and parenthood. When asked about this tangible theme in his work, Dunne describes the way he felt when Home Bird was first produced: “I remember thinking then that I could do something useful with plays.” At the time, this purposeful aspect to Dunne’s play was a by-product of its context within immigration, but looking back on the experience it is clear that this writer understands the palpable engagement that new writing can foster: “Now generally I suppose my approach to theatre is that it should be useful, but I kind of feel that way about all [forms of] entertainment.” This angle in Dunne’s work has emerged from a period of mentorship and development, and in many ways The Waste Ground Party represents the culmination of these experiences, perhaps because of the expectations of an Abbey debut that frame it.
Dunne reflects on his time in the Abbey New Playwrights Program, where he worked on the script over the last two years, saying: “They’re there to talk to you about your writing, [and] to offer you an insight into how the Abbey produces and how the Abbey constructs its conversation with writers.” That conversation has lately been a hot-button issue as the national theatre’s second stage, the Peacock, remains dark for the majority of the year, most often hosting independent productions rather than debuting Irish writers like Dunne. This criticism magnified in early 2014 when independent Arts Council reports of the Abbey (largely negative) were made available by the Irish Times along with the barrage of critics’ opinions that came along with it. Given this context of critical spotlight, did Dunne feel pressure when his new play began to enter production? “What’s been really, really great about working at the Abbey is that there’s so much support here that I haven’t gotten elsewhere. Not only do I have the director, stage manager […] I’ve also got the literary department and Fiach, the artistic director […] I can chat about every element with somebody. And that’s really really useful. It’s not as lonely as producing your own work, even though I’ve worked with a great company for years. But it’s not in this big gaff, like.”
I think if The Waste Ground Party were to go on in the UK, people would understand it because there are housing schemes like ours all over the world. But my focus is the audience here, that’s why I live here.
There’s no doubt that the resources of a national producing house like the Abbey greatly enhance the process and horizon of opportunity for young writers like Dunne, but is this production simply an exception to rule, given the Peacock’s recent track record? “I don’t think there is a rule in place. The venue is curated. They’re not going to put on plays for the sake of putting on plays. And that makes sense, and it’s the same in Project [Arts Centre].” Regarding the current criticism of the Peacock, however, Dunne sympathises: “I understand the frustration but ultimately, until you’ve run a national theatre in this climate, you won’t understand why it’s dark. But I believe that the Abbey is doing its utmost to stage new work and the fact that they did my play is a testament to that.” Regardless of the politics surrounding new writing in Ireland, Dunne’s work taps into accessible themes wherever it’s produced.
“A lot of the work has an international appeal in the sense that the themes will resonate in different ways in specific countries, however, the work is inherently Irish.” For Dunne, accessing an Irish audience is paramount, and establishing local conversation given the charged contexts of his plays. “I think if The Waste Ground Party were to go on in the UK, people would understand it because there are housing schemes like ours all over the world […] But my focus is the audience here, that’s why I live here.” At twenty-five, Dunne displays a refreshingly honest outlook when discussing his work, always wary to toot his own horn, but also entirely confident to seize every opportunity should it come along. Having established himself now as both a playwright and an actor, where does Dunne see himself heading next?
“I’d like to start doing some TV. Like I really love soaps. Everyone always laughs at me when I say that. [But] Eastenders does amazing work socially. The issues that it brings into people’s houses… Eight million people watch it every night. There can be certain snobbery to certain TV that is unjust. And we’re also looking to tour Advocacy (from this year’s Dublin Fringe).” Beyond trying new forms of work, and hoping to revive some past projects, more than anything one gets the sense that this writer/actor/maker will not be resting on his laurels any time soon: “I’d also like to find new and sustainable ways to collaborate with new artists and other institutions.” It’s hard not to predict that after Dunne’s success more innovative collaborations and productions must be in the works. Ultimately Dunne displays a clear appetite for making work “that’s useful”, and while an Abbey debut may mark a new chapter in this artist’s career, it seems to only be the start of many conversations with audiences to come.
Check out our review of The Waste Ground Party, running in the Abbey until November 22. Photo by Aifric Ni Chriodain.
