Seamus O’Rourke in Padraig Potts Guide to Walking
AFTER LAST year’s performance of ‘The Quare Land’, Leitrim man Seamus O’Rourke returns to Fermanagh Live with a performance ‘Padraig Potts’ Guide To Walking’, a self-penned play.
A former Leitrim Gaelic footballer, Seamus started out as an amateur actor with ‘The Corn Mill Theatre’, Carrigallen, Co.Leitrim in 1989.
He has won many acting awards including Best Supporting Actor at the Northern Ireland Drama finals in 95, RTE Best Actor in the All Ireland drama finals in 2010 and in 2011, he won RTE Best Supporting Actor.
He is delighted to return to the Ardhowen Theatre.
“It was a full house and a wonderful atmosphere. The Ardhowen is one of the finest theatres in the country and when it’s full like that it’s just a brilliant place to play. I will always remember the audience’s thirst for comedy, there was lots of it in ‘The Quare Land’ and there’s lots of it in ‘Padraig Potts’ Guide to Walking’.
This year’s performance follows the life of Padraig Potts McKeirnan, from growing up near the tiny rural village of Drumnamee, County Leitrim in the 70s and 80s to falling in love with Silvia Lang, a perfect Protestant girl, to marrying Mary Tague, the local priest’s housekeeper and eventually to the realisation that the world isn’t as big as he first thought. It’s a play full of nostalgia and humour, about innocent times, where one stumbled across love and our own identity.
Seamus went on: “I’m called an actor, writer, director. But most of all I’d like to think of myself as a storyteller, for me nothing should get in the way of the story. When people come to the theatre, I want to take them on a journey, I want them to forget that they’re in the theatre, forget they’re days troubles and enjoy the experience.
“I’m really looking forward to the Ardhowen and Fermanagh Live, to the warmth of the organisers and the enthusiasm of the audience. After all, it’s only a stone’s throw away from where I grew up and from where I’m writing about.”
Padraig Potts’ Guide To Walking will be performed in the Ardhowen Theatre on Friday October 3, with tickets available from the box office.