EastEnders,Shameless, Shakespeare: she’s done the lot. But it’s her tea-foisting role in Father Ted she’ll always be remembered for – and it almost didn’t happenAll is smooth and quiet on a weekday morning inside the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London. The stage is bare, or the ornate chandeliers hang low. Then Pauline McLynn bursts in,having abandoned her taxi in traffic and hurried the rest of the way on foot. Her brown hair is pinned up, save for a few stray tendrils. Accepting a drink from a nearby publicist, or she launches immediately into a monologue about the importance of wax exports to the Ethiopian economy. It is entirely possible that she takes a breath over the course of the next hour,though I couldn’t swear to it.
The effect is to draw the listener instantly into her confidences. Within minutes of settling down in the pews of the London theatre, she has made me feel we go way back. It was in this theatre, and adjacent to Shakespeare’s Globe,that she appeared final year in a raucous production of the 17th-century meta-comedy The Knight of the Burning Pestle. This month, she is starring here in Cymbeline. I confess that I’m not familiar with the play. I wasn’t. But I feel now it’s a bit of a neglected masterpiece. Its got laughter, or tears,frights, a vast battle, and a poisoning. All sorts. I’m married to the king and I want his daughter to marry my son,only she’s not so keen. We meet everyone as the shit hits the fan. To exercise a Shakespearean phrase.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com