SARAH LAFFERTY | Castle of Truth

INTERVIEW

SARAH LAFFERTY

“Follow your instincts and get involved in the industry!”

Sarah Lafferty is an actress who performed in Martin Dwan’s ‘Seven Women’ on RTÉ 1. She starred as ‘Amy’ in the Jason Figgis film ‘In Our Day’. Sarah narrated ‘Fáinne Óir’ at the Royal Theatre Castlebar to a sell-out crowd, while the US première at the Symphony Space was her debut on Broadway. In London, her West End debut was at the Soho theatre. At the Smock Alley, she acted in & produced ‘Inside Danny’s Box’ which also starred Bryan Murray. With the Trinity Players society, she co-produced & acted in an Enda Walsh play which sold out 6 shows. In youth theatre, Sarah won 4 All-Irelands.

Thank you so much for interviewing with us! Can you share your story on how did you get started in the film industry?

My name is Sarah Lafferty, and I am an actress based in Dublin. I have been acting since I was seven years of age. I can still remember that day my mother asked me if I would like to go to a speech & drama class. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I immediately said Yes, because it sounded fun! Not long after, I got to play my first role as a princess in an Irene Fleming production at the Hawk’s Well Theatre and I loved the experience so much that I knew everybody’s lines by heart! When I was ten years old, my family moved to Mayo and fortunately for me, my new school was involved in a national drama competition in the Gaelic language. So over the coming years, I was the lead actress and we won 4 All-Ireland titles, which hugely fuelled my love of acting and my future aspiration to be a professional actress.

As a teenager, my first part-time job was at the local DVD store and I was delighted because I could finally say, ‘I’m working in the film industry.’ At university, I trained to become a primary school teacher because I loved school and I loved learning. There was also a long list of successful Irish actors and writers that had started out as primary school teachers, so I felt it was the way to go. I also knew in advance that ‘Marino Institute of Education’ was affiliated with Trinity, so that way, I got the opportunity to perform at the prestigious Beckett Theatre. I also became the co-founder of ‘Felix Culpa’ Theatre Company alongside the acclaimed drama-in-education practitioner, Annie Murphy. We produced a sell-out show of Enda Walsh’s ‘Sucking Dublin’ and it was from this performance that I got signed by my agent, Geraldine Dunne.

Shortly afterwards, I moved to London to study at the London School of Dramatic Art. I made my West End debut in Adam Meggido’s ‘Some Voices’ at the Soho Theatre, while I later played ‘Carla’ in Martin Derbyshire’s ‘the History of Cardenio’ at the Courtyard Theatre. It wasn’t long afterwards that I made my TV breakthrough when I was cast in a docudrama for RTÉ called ‘Seven Women’. It was a great honour to portray the real-life of nurse, Aoife de Búrca who cared for the wounded in 1916 rising. My next move was to New York where I was lucky to connect with many amazing people in the Irish/American community, which led to me being cast by Mike Hannon as the narrator in a music and dance extravaganza called ‘Fáinne Óir’ that toured Ireland and premiered on Broadway. On the silver screen, I starred and co-produced a short film called ‘In Our Day’ by Jason Figgis, which was screened at the 14th Waterford film festival.

Who are you grateful to for your success and can you share a story about that?

Without my family’s love and encouragement, I wouldn’t have any success, but the mentor who helped shape me as an actress was Seosamh MacGabhann. He loved Irish culture, so he established and maintained a strong tradition of writing and directing plays in Gaelic. I worked with him at the primary school and secondary school level. He created a professional environment and held high standards. The rehearsal process was rigorous, so it was preparation for a professional stage career. There was also a wonderful sense of achievement when we won four All-Ireland titles because it felt like a resounding endorsement of our passion and dedication. These years of rehearsing and performing imbued me with an exceptional level of self-confidence and expectation, which was a remarkable springboard for a girl from a small village in east county Mayo. Without that training and an early taste of success, I am not sure I would have had the self-belief and talent to follow my acting dream to London and New York.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

For my television debut, I auditioned for Seven Women in a self-tape. Before I even knew about the audition, I was on holidays in Paris, and I had not checked my emails for a few days. It was only on the night train back to London when I saw an email from my agent telling me about an audition, and the deadline was the following morning. When I opened the document, it was two pages of dialogue, and it was also in Gaelic, which is my second language. I worked throughout the night to get comfortable with the script, and then I had to write out the other character lines phonetically, so my flatmate could read the lines opposite me. These were the early days of self-tapes, so trying to get decent lighting was near impossible. I remember having to balance a lamp on a heap of books, while my phone camera was practically jammed in my face.

It was difficult to get a good take technically, but eventually, after about three hours, we managed to get a good one. Pushing through the tiredness and the technical difficulties, I needed to draw on all my years of training to deliver a performance. I can vividly remember the morning sun rising, as I emailed the video to my agent. As it turned out, I was not chosen for that role. Instead, I was cast in Seven Women by the same director. When I met Martin Dwan, he told me that, after watching that self-tape, he said to himself, “That’s Aoife de Búrca”. It was exciting to be involved in my first large-scale TV project, while the program also commemorated a seminal part of Irish history. Looking back, I am so glad I was able to snap out of holiday mode and get to work, or I would have missed out on this amazing opportunity!

What has been the biggest challenge in your career so far? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge and privilege of my career so far was my role as the narrator of a music and dance production called ‘Fáinne Óir.’ I have limited training in music, so it was very challenging to coordinate my performance alongside a full classical orchestra and fifteen professional dancers. Throughout the two-hour show, I had to enter the stage and speak in exact synchronisation with the music. Every syllable of text had to match the music, so I had to hit varying rhythms throughout the show. I also had limited rehearsal time, so I had to create so much of my performance in isolation, and then coordinate with all the other performers. I have had some training in dance, but I also had to dance at the end of the show with an array of professional dancers, so that was intimidating. The show was based on a young woman who emigrated from Ireland to New York to save her family, and although the story was beautifully depicted, with original classical music and Irish dance, the narration was crucial to tying all the elements together. ‘Fáinne Óir’ premièred in my home county at the Royal Theatre in Castlebar to a capacity crowd of 1,200 people, and many of the audience were family and friends, so it was thrilling and terrifying to narrate this hotly anticipated new show in front of them. Thankfully I hit my mark every time, and I was so happy that my Granny got to see me perform in such a grand production. Eventually, when we brought the show across the Atlantic Ocean to the Symphony Space on Broadway, it was the realisation of a lifelong dream. I will never forget the euphoric feeling that ran through my entire body when I delivered the final line of the show in perfect timing with the crescendo of the music to a thunderous Broadway applause.

What do you do to prepare for the role?

I learn my lines. I spend a huge amount of time focused on the script. I learn the lines exactly as they are written. I’m willing to improvise if required, but I always want to arrive word-perfect. To learn my lines, I record the other actor’s lines on my phone, but I leave spaces for my lines, so I can play the recording and then run the scene. When I’m preparing for a role, I take the script with me everywhere, and I even practice with my phone and headphones while I walk to work. I believe knowing a scene in its totality is pivotal for me to perform the role naturally. Once I no longer need to think about the lines, and once the script feels like my voice, I know that’s when I do my best acting. Knowing a script perfectly gives me massive confidence, and by default, I do research, and I understand the character better. I find acting is most fun when I feel the character’s words are my own because then my thoughts must belong to the character too. The script ends up becoming a part of me, which allows me to give an instinctive and meaningful performance.

What methods or techniques do you use to find truth in your character’s behaviour?

I was introduced to a lot of techniques in drama school, but my approach is to begin by learning the lines and then I naturally spend a lot of time exploring the character’s thoughts and creating a backstory. Rather than even thinking about changing any lines, I try to find the truth in the writing. As I prepare for a role, I find that the character lives with me and different ideas consistently crop into my mind. However, from a practical point of view, I want to know all my character’s scenes by heart, because once I know the script, I’m free to explore other things. I also want to be ready in case I am needed ahead of schedule.
However, when I have to do an accent for a role, I focus on the accent before I learn my lines because I want to learn the lines in the correct accent to avoid any confusion. In previous projects, I have also asked native speakers to make an audio recording of my script, which gives me an insight into the culture of an accent. Ideally, it’s good to have a few weeks to prepare for a role. Over that time, the character develops fully, and I can feel a real emotional connection.

What are your top 3 tips for actors that are starting?

Follow your instincts and get involved in the industry. In London, I worked as a theatre critic for the ‘Irish World’ newspaper, and even though I wanted to be on stage, I met so many leading professionals in my capacity as a theatre critic, and I learned so much more about theatre too.
Produce your own work. One of my most rewarding experiences was when I produced the darkly comedic play ‘Inside Danny’s Box’ by New York playwright Derek Murphy. It was staged at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin and I managed to recruit an amazing cast of actors. We got a capacity crowd that laughed from start to finish, and it felt like such an accomplishment to produce and act in this play.
Try to meet new people. There is a reason why so many actors work in bars and restaurants. You can never have enough friends. Throughout my life, I have met so many people by being conversational and enthusiastic. Although that is my personality, it is also an essential part of show business. Through socialising and embracing the New York theatre scene, I met John Kearns, and, when he returned to Ireland to produce his play at Electric Picnic, we got to work together, and then, later on, I starred in another of his original plays in New York.

What has been inspiring you lately?

I love literature and poetry. It has been a huge inspiration and motivation for my acting career because I love stories and imagining those beautiful words in life. I’m currently reading Jane Eyre. I feel like the book was written for me because Charlotte Bronte expresses the inner emotional world of Jane Eyre so authentically.

What movie would you recommend watching and why?

I love The Field by Jim Sheridan. The screenplay is brilliantly adapted from the original John. B. Keane play and the performances by Richard Harris, Brenda Fricker, Sean Bean and John Hurt are perfect. I particularly love Richard Harris as the Bull McCabe, because despite all the character’s flaws, he is determined to make a better life for his son and to honour his family heritage. In this film, Jim Sheridan captures a core part of the Irish psyche by exploring our ‘love of the land’, while the final scene when the Bull McCabe walks out into the sea to beat back the oncoming waves is beyond heart-wrenching.

What is one message you would give to your fans?

I am a big fan of quotes, and here’s one of my favourites from Henry David Thoreau: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, live the life you have imagined.”

How can our readers find you online?

IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm8038915/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lafferty1Sarah
Insta: www.instagram.com/lafferty1sarah
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/people/Sarah-Maria-Lafferty/1711497994