Deirdre O'Kane: 'I've reached a point where I'm not afraid to make people uncomfortable'

• Published date: 05 May 2024
• Author: Niamh Donnelly
• Publication title: Irish Times: Web Edition Articles (Dublin, Ireland)

We're in Il Caffe di Napoli on Westland Row in Dublin, sharing a Margherita pizza. Her dark hair and black sweater give off something of a rock-chick look. On her head are two pairs of glasses, while on her face is that knowing Deirdre O'Kane smile. She's telling me about her first-ever job: a walk-on part in Borstal Boy at the Gaiety Theatre, in 1989. At the time, she was completing a night course at the then-new Gaiety School of Acting, and had been invited to put her name forward for a background part. By day, she was a student in the College of Marketing and Design, and desperate to drop out. But Gaiety School founder, and Borstal Boy director, Joe Dowling, had other ideas

"He didn't pick me. And I nearly lost the plot. I ran up the stairs to his office and banged on the door and said: 'oh my God, you didn't put me on the list'."

I can only write about whatever stage of life I'm in. A lot of it is from the perspective of my kids asking me stuff, like 'How did you meet?'

Dowling told her he didn't want her to have to drop out of college.

"I was like: you don't understand, I need an excuse to give my parents to get out of college. I'm not interested in marketing. I can't spell marketing. I've done the guts of a year and I'm certainly not doing the exams, because I spent the whole time smoking fags in the canteen!"

So, O'Kane got her start.

For many years thereafter, she continued to pursue her acting dream. When she and a friend put on a play in The International Bar, it got a good review, and she was offered an audition with the renowned theatre company Druid. She ended up touring the world for two years as (yes) Miss Funny in Vincent Woods's At the Black Pig's Dyke.

"I thought every job would be like that, because I was so green. And then I never travelled again," she laughs.

O'Kane's acting career reached a level of success most would envy. She has played Debra Moone in Chris O'Dowd's TV comedy, Moone Boy, and Noelene in the 2003 feature film Intermission. She's graced the Abbey stage as well as the Gate and many others. Her performance as children's rights campaigner Christina Noble in the 2014 feature, Noble, directed by O'Kane's husband Stephen Bradley, won her an IFTA.

But the more acting work she did, the more she understood the hard truth about the occupation: "There's not enough work. It's as simple as that."

Keep It Tight review: Deirdre O'Kane and Emma Doran combine brazen charm with disarming realness

O'Kane knows the industry from multiple angles. She has been married to film director Bradley for almost 24 years, and the pair have two children together, Holly (19) and Daniel (15). They first met in the early 1990s, when Bradley, producer Ed Guiney, and actor, Paul Hickey, moved in next door to O'Kane, in The Liberties, Dublin.

"I knew Paul because he was an actor," O'Kane says. "I had a bed that needed moving and they were getting a...