Synopsis

In What Where, written in English in 1983, four characters appear at intervals, all dressed in the same long grey gown with the same long grey hair. Bam controls and interrogates the others, sending them off 'to confess' to an unnamed crime. A seasonal cycle from spring to winter passes in the course of the play, with Bam repeating the same questions and actions.

'Time passes. That is all. Make sense who may. I switch off.'
Bam, What Where

Back to top

Director

Writer and director Damien O'Donnell is perhaps best known for his highly acclaimed 1999 feature-film East is East, which won the BAFTA award for Best British Film and was also the winner of PRIX MEDIA 2000. His previous film work includes: Chrono-Perambulator, a time-machine adventure spanning 400 years in 11 minutes, and Danger Doyle's Doo, a comedy set in the world of pigeon racing on the east coast of Scotland, written by Danny McCahon and screened as part of the Mind the Gap series on BBC Scotland. In 1995 Damien's short Thirty Five Aside, screened as part of The Talent short film festival on BBC2, won him a Best New Director award.

'There is a lot of menace in the play. What Where is about a brooding, palpable evil.'
Damien O'Donnell

Interview

Back to top

Cast

Gary Lewis (Bem, Bim and Bom) has worked extensively in film, television and theatre. His film credits include: Scorsese's Gangs of New York; Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot and One Life Stand (Best Film, New York Silicon Alley Festival); Peter Mullan's Orphans (for which he won the Gijon Film Festival '98 Best Actor award); Ken Loach's My Name is Joe and Carla's Song; and Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave. He also played the lead in Damien O'Donnell's BAFTA-nominated short film Danger Doyle's Doo. His theatre credits include One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ecstasy, and Love, Lies, Bleeding, among many others.

Sean McGinley (Bam) has an impressive list of credits in film, theatre and television. His theatre performances in both Ireland and the UK include the Abbey's productions of Famine, A Long Day's Journey into the Night and Whistle in the Dark, which went on to play at the Royal Court, and The Shaughraun, which earned him a Time Out Best Actor award. At the Gate he has performed in The Three Sisters and Aristocrats. His film credits include John Boorman's The General, Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy and Michael Collins, Mel Gibson's Braveheart and Jim Sheridan's The Field. He played the lead in RTÉ's series Making the Cut and DDU and in the highly acclaimed four-part series Family, directed by Michael Winterbottom.

Back to top