Playing the Game:
Mark O'Rowe on his debut feature The Delinquent Season
After years in the industry writing scripts for film and TV, as well as writing and directing theatre Mark O'Rowe steps out from the shadows to direct his first feature film with The Delinquent Season.
The film is the story of two couples who appear content in their middle-class Dublin lives: rewarding jobs, good work/life balance, happy kids and entertaining friends. Cracks begin to appear when Jim (Cillian Murphy) and Danielle (Eva Birthistle) discover that Yvonne (Catherine Walker) and Chris (Andrew Scott) are having problems.
Cin É: Do find film a different medium from theatre in that there isn't the instant response for the audience?
Mark O'Rowe: Well film isn't a million miles away from that in that you can sit in with an audience and watch it with them. I know that you're not getting it live, but you can watch them and you can experience them experiencing your work. I think that the separation is between those dramatic arts and the novel. If you write a novel you can't watch someone read it, well you could, but you are not going to get much out of it. Whereas you kind of have the sense of response if people are interested by something, if they are being held by it, if it is funny and they are laughing. You can see all of that with a film or play. It doesn't quite work in as binary a way as that. For example if you are watching a play that is really really dull, and I've heard people say many times that the difference theatre and film is that theatre is live, they are right in front of you, but if I'm watching
Words: Niall Murphy
52 CinÉireann / April 2018