Arts & Culture
Ahead of its world premiere this autumn, Hayley Leaver goes backstage at new musical Te Commitments with frontman Killian Donnelly
A
dapted from Roddy Doyle’s best- selling novel, Te Commitments musical, which has been more than two years in the making, arrives in
London’s West End this autumn. Taking up its residence at the Palace Teatre, the show will hit the stage for the very first time in September. “It sounds cliché to say the show is
something the audience have never seen before, but, in many respects, it’s exactly that,” said cast member Killian Donnelly. “It’s an original Irish comedy about a band being put together. Te band play all their own instruments on stage, as the story shows them from the day they meet to their first gig. “Te show has been called a ‘musical’ but that to me suggests top hat and tails or even original songs,” adds Donnelly. “Te songs in Te Commitments are all well known soul songs, such as Mustang Sally, Try A Little Tenderness and Heard It Trough Te Grapevine and are only performed when the band perform them. Te show is a play. It’s a very raw, funny play with brilliant tunes.”
farts smell of roses. Who could pass that up? A real meaty obnoxious, loud singer seemed like too good an opportunity to miss out on.” He added: “I’d played romantic leads with
Bringing 1980’s Dublin to the West End, the production follows the story of an aspiring band manager, Jimmy Rabbitte, and a group of aspiring musicians who get together in the hope of forming a band. After holding auditions at his parents’ house, Jimmy finds himself with Te Commitments – a group of white and weedy musicians far removed from his soul idols Aretha Franklin and Otis Reading. Alongside Denis Grindel, who will be making
his West End debut as Jimmy Rabbitte, Killian Donnelly will be playing the role of band frontman Declan “Deco” Cuffe. He said: “I play Deco, who’s the lead singer in the band and thinks he’s God’s gift to singing. I have to be rude to everyone and walk around as if my
flowing locks before but I wanted to go for something completely different. And now I know I’ve done a good job in rehearsals when someone says to me, ‘God you’re such an obnoxious pr**k’. At least I think it’s for the scene.” Choosing to change his look to distance himself from his previous roles and Andrew Strong, who played the role of Deco in the Oscar-nominated 1991 film version of Te Commitments, Donnelly has shaved off his hair ahead of the production’s debut. “When I told friends I got the role of Deco in Te Commitments they’d straight away say, ‘But you don’t look like your man from the movie’,” said Donnelly. “Tat’s why I wanted to shave my head, so I look a lot different to the Deco audiences are used to. If you were to put the film on stage, it would never work. People would just stay at home and watch the film. You need to take the best of the novel and the film and make something original and new. If you loved the book and the film, you’ll love the play. “I’m getting to be a part of an original piece
- creating a character,” he added. “It’s what you hope for as an actor, so I’m very honored to be creating Deco. I feel I’m going to be caught out and that maybe they’ll realise I’m not right, so I’m keeping my head down in rehearsals. Say nothing.” Te “they” that Donnelly refers to is director
Jamie Lloyd, whose credits include the Oliver award-winning Te Pride and Macbeth from the Trafalgar Transformed season, and Booker prize-winning author Roddy Doyle. Doyle, who still lives on the street where he wrote Te Commitments novel in 1986, entertained a number of writers before choosing to adapt the story for the stage himself. “Te producers wanted to convince Roddy to write it,” said Donnelly. “He wasn’t a fan of musicals and that’s why the show is more of a play. No one could have written it better and transfer what people loved about the book and what they loved about the film into a new original script. “Growing up in Ireland Roddy Doyle was a household name,” he added. “Roddy’s novels always came into our house through my older brother. We’d all read them after that, so when I got this job my family kept asking, ‘Is Roddy there? And does he talk to ya?’. It’s very exciting to be working with the man and the best part is he has an answer to any question regarding the script. We ask him about the characters and it’s incredibly helpful to know where his material was sourced from.”
Previews for Te Commitments start on 21st September 2013 at the Palace Teatre. For more information or to book tickets call 0844 874 0790 or visit
www.thecommitmentslondon.com
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