Brendan Gleeson, Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Rea in RTE After Life
The final part of John Boorman's trilogy of satires on Modern Ireland started in The Hit List and followed by 2020..
Brendan Gleeson, Stephen Rea, Angeline Ball, Susan Fitzgerald and Saoirse Ronan lead an all star cast in John Boorman's After Life
Aired 18 DEC 2012 in RTÉ RADIO 1 Drama On One
Speaking to RTÉ TEN about the play, Ronan said: "It’s called After Life, it’s written by John Boorman. I play an angel who appears to Angeline Ball’s character who is in heaven and trying to stay in touch with her husband.
"It’s an amazing cast; Brendan Gleeson is in it, Stephen Rea, my dad [Paul] is in it as well so it’s been lovely. It’s been fun and it’s been nice seeing everyone today."
Gleeson added that it was 'great' to be reunited with the cast for the final part of the trilogy: “It’s great. John is so special and for the last three Christmases, this is what we had as an early Christmas present so it’s fantastic to come back in, it’s always lovely.”
Director Boorman, who worked with Gleeson on The General and The Tiger's Tale also enjoyed the experience: "I was just saying to Brendan here that it was very touching at the end and the actors have injected an emotion into this thing that I didn’t even realise it had.
"So I was very pleased with this marvellous cast that Kevin Reynolds [RTÉ Drama on One Producer] assembled for me and it’s just wonderful to play with actors of that calibre because they can bring so much out of the cold lines of dialogue. It’s been a great experience."
PLOT[]
After a hasty dispatch to the next world, Joe Devlin, Brendan Gogarty and their respective wives, Áine and Hilary, find themselves floating in very illustrious company in the hereafter.
CAST[]
Conor....... Laurence Kinlan
Gerry ...........Brian Gleeson
Brendan .. Stephen Rea
Áine ........... Angeline Ball
Jo ............... Brendan Gleeson
Hilary ..... Susan Fitzgerald
Angel ...... Saoirse Ronan
Shakespeare ... Nick Dunning
Churchill ..... Brendan Gleeson
Kant ........... Brian Gleeson
Engels ..... OLiver Callan
Marx ......... Joe Taylor
Lenin ........ Stanley Townsend
Joyce ..... Paul Ronan
Writer ..... John Boorman
Director .... John Boorman
Music ........ Daragh Dukes
Dramaturg ... Jesper Bergmann
Sound ........ Damien Chennells
Extra Recordings .... Kevin Brew
Producer.... Kevin Reynolds.
REFERENCES[]
https://www.rte.ie/radio/dramaonone/647278-genres-comedy-afterlife
EXTERNAL LINKS[]
Tv News story on the recording - https://youtu.be/mC1ye5p03Oo
Press release https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2012/1219/442261-gleesonb/