BWW Interviews: Stewart Roche of PurpleHeart Theatre's on 'REVENANT'

It's a busy time for PurpleHeart Theatre Company. With "The Judge's House" about to come to an end in Bewleys, their new show Revenant opens in The New Theatre on Nov. 18th. BroadwayWorld talked to its artistic director, and author of Revenant, Stewart Roche.

Stewart, can you introduce Purple Heart Theatre Company ?
PurpleHeart was set up in 1999 with a view to staging Irish premieres of internationally recognised writers. Back then we felt playwrights such as Joe Penhall, Jez Butterworth and Tracy Letts were under-represented in Irish theatre and sought to bring these writers to a new audience. We focused on naturalistic plays initially but as a company we evolved and embraced different styles. We've also staged work by Irish writers.

Your new play Revenant is about the filming of a zombie movie set in famine times. Was there anything that inspired you to write it - is it influenced by the Shaun of the Dead style movie or had you read many folklore ghost stories from that period ?

I think it's a mix of both. It's tricky to answer without giving too much away but I'll try! I was cast in a short film that was shot down the country. We stayed in a wonderful country house miles outside the town we were shooting in, really isolated, very few other guests apart from those working on the movie. It suddenly occurred to me that apart from the other actor I didn't really know anyone on the shoot, didn't really know where I was staying and there was virtually no phone coverage anywhere on the grounds. And late at night an old house has lots of perfectly normal noises and sounds that become less normal as the night goes on....
So the idea started from there-what if you ended up on a location shoot with someone you didn't know but began to suspect was responsible for some of the unexplainable events that were happening around you?
That's the central premise of the piece. Carter, the director, has found the perfect location to shoot his zombie movie set during the famine- a country house on an island off the coast of Mayo. The only catch-he has it for just 3 days. So when his lead actor drops out the day before shooting starts, Carter is faced with a dilemma - pull the plug on his dream project or cast the mysterious Vardell, an actor of incredible talent but with a dark past that Carter knows precious little about. As events unfold on the set, Carter soon suspects that he may have made a grave mistake.

And it stars Simon Toal...
I suppose most people would know Simon from his Jack Kairo show which he first performed in the Dublin Fringe in 2005. That was a big hit here and a huge hit in Edinburgh when he brought it to the fringe. I think he was nominated for just about every award going over there and deservedly so as it was an incredible show. I wrote "Revenant" specifically for him as I knew it would be a huge challenge to an actor to play so many parts and to sustain the piece on his own for 80 minutes. His energy, his truthfulness and his charisma are a tremendous asset to the show. I think he's one of Ireland's best solo performers, up there with Eamonn Morissey and Donal O' Kelly.

And who might the show appeal to ...?
If you liked movies such as 'The Cabin in the Woods', 'Shadow of a vampire', 'Let the right one in' then Revenant will appeal to you. While it's set in the world of film it is theatrical in style. Simon address the audience directly, plays about 15 different parts thorough voice and physicality, and takes us on a roller coaster journey. It's really funny too but does get increasingly chilling as it nears a very disturbing climax. If people saw our recent production of "The Judge's House" they'll know what to expect. Revenant is its darker, sexier, nastier younger brother.

Finally, does Purple Heart Theatre have any further production plans over the next 6 months or so?
We'd like to try to get "Revenant" on the road early next year so are looking into that. My new play "Tracer", is probably going to happen at some stage in 2014. It's a conspiracy thriller set in a Dublin office where a part-time worker discovers the company has come up a unique and dangerous way of riding out the recession. It doesn't feature any ghosts, zombies or vampires. But people still bleed......

Revenant is on in The New Theatre, Dublin from 18 Nov to 30 Nov. To book tickets click here

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