Before the play arrives in the Ulster Hall on 8th October, the multi-talented Dubliner talks to Folk and Tumble about the responsibilities and joys of portraying an Irish legend.
FT: Moonlight isn’t your usual Rock star bio piece. Yes, it’s a homage to Phil Lynott, but it’s so much more. Can you tell us a little bit more about the play?
PS: The great glory of the play is John Merrigan’s writing. It’s a complete homage and honour piece that really seeks to place Philip in the pantheon of great Irish poets and writers. John doesn’t seek to dive into Philip’s personal issues
We recognise that every man, whatever his vocation in life, has his proclivities, and rather than go there, it seeks to examine Philip as an artist, and debate if he is worthy of making that leap to the great heights of James Joyce, Brendan Behan, and Oscar Wilde. So it really is a reflection on Philip’s life as an artist, a musician, a singer, and a great writer.
FT: So, what’s it like to portray the legend on stage? Especially as a Dub. Is it a risk or a joy? A privilege or a responsibility?
PS: It’s an absolute privilege, but it is a responsibility as well. I wouldn’t call it a pressure. Pressure is digging a hole in the road, with six kids and a mortgage that you barely afford. So this is an absolute privilege, but there is a weight of responsibility because Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy are beloved by all people in Dublin, and indeed Ireland, so you have to get it right, both as an actor and a performer
FT: We have been blessed in Ireland to have so many giants of literature, writers, and poets. Joyce, Wilde, Behan, Beckett, Heaney, O’Casey, the list goes on. When it comes to poets in song, we’ve been similarly blessed, Shane McGowan, Sinead O’Connor, Glen Hansard, so many wonderful writers. Phil Lynott was one, if not the best frontman I’ve seen on a stage. In your opinion, and as the play decides, he deserves to be in that pantheon of literary greats?
PS: Yeah, absolutely. Philip wrote 99% of all the Thin Lizzy material. If you look at the lyrical content of the songs, like ‘Emerald’, ‘Dublin’, and even some of the big hits, they are love letters to the people involved. ‘Emerald’ is a History lesson. Philip had a gift that he could take a snapshot of something he had read that he was into, in terms of Irish Mythology and folklore, and he could write about it so succulently, and translate it into a language that people could understand, and was immediately accessible to his contemporary audience. That was one of his great gifts. He brought Irish history to life and made it rock and roll. Which is extremely rare.
FT: I suppose it’s because of that background of being a rock star that people don’t really fully appreciate the Lyricism of his writing? A simple song like ‘Dublin’ is a love/hate letter to the city, which encapsulates so many conflicting emotions in two and a half minutes.
PS: You’re absolutely right, Damian. I think an awful lot of rock artists suffer from that. Sometimes the magic of the poetry is hidden behind the heavy guitars and the rock n’ roll façade. It takes someone who is really into it, like yourself, to sit down and actually listen to what’s being said, in order for those raw emotions to be exposed. ‘Dublin’ is a great example. This is a song about somebody who had to leave Ireland in order to progress in their career. He did not want to leave Ireland, because Ireland was his first true sense of Identity and belonging. Someone with a background like Philip’s, as I can identify with, would have prayed for that from early childhood. To have to leave that behind, to pursue your big dream, is a very, very difficult thing to do. To articulate that so beautifully, and tragically, in a song like ‘Dublin’ is just wonderful, and a real gift.
FT: You’ve talked about that simpatico with Phil, in terms of that yearning to be Irish, in the face of the similar backgrounds you have and the racial prejudice that you both encountered, and that connection you have with Phil.
PS: As you know, it’s obvious that I come from a similar background, but I come from a similarly structured home, with a similar support network. I would guard my home life in the same way that Philip did. It’s your home and your community that shape you. I was raised by a family and a community in the same postcode as Philip. 500 hundred yards down the road. My upbringing was Carrow Road, Drimnagh, his was Leighlin Road, Crumlin. You could kick a football from one place to the other. Even though there were two generations between our upbringings, Dublin doesn’t change. There might be an extra few quid in it now, but the culture, who we are, who we want to be perceived as, and what we hold as dear and important, that hasn’t changed, and I embrace that as an actor and as an artist.
FT: You look around at the huge talents this island has produced, Christy Moore, Glen Hansard, Damien Dempsey, and continues to produce, and I sometimes think, is it not a shame that we only truly celebrate their greatness when they pass?
PS: Yeah, I’ve had a few profound moments over the past few months. I’ve the privilege of knowing people like Brian Kennedy, like Bryan McFadden, like Danny O’Donahue. People I hold as real artists, and we only hold against them their youth, and the fact that they’re still here. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Liam Ó Maonlaí as well at the Christy Dignam tribute concert. This is a true artist, a poet, a gaeilgeoir, a singer of songs, and just a beautiful soul, a man we should be holding in much higher regard, alongside some of the others we have mentioned. And you’re right Damian, we’re very good at celebrating people when they’re gone, but it’s really time to celebrate people when they’re here. We are punching miles above our weight in terms of artists. Brian Kennedy, who is playing Oscar Wilde for us in the show. He is about to release his 19th album. If anything were to happen to Brian in 30 or 40 years’ time, (I hope he lives to a hundred!), there will be a debate if he is the greatest singer, alongside John McCormick, to sing a song under the flag of Ireland, regardless if it’s Northern Ireland or the Republic. And we should be telling these people these things to their faces. Now. Celebrate now.
FT: He’s a west Belfast man, so it’s great to hear you speak so effusively of him. Eric Bell, also a Belfast man, is featured in the show. Will the two boys be showing you round the city when the play comes here on October 8th?
PS: I hope so. If John and Mark and all of the people working behind the scenes can sort us out for a few shows, I’d really love to get into the heart of Belfast. Do a few shows for either side of the divide. I think we’re putting that old stuff behind us, and it’s time to celebrate those things that kept us alive during those troubling periods. The Music, the fact that we held hands across the border, even when some didn’t want us to, we linked arms and released, we are one and the same, we are human beings
FT: I’ve been listening again to some of your own music, and was particularly taken by your cover of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart.’
PS: Yeah, well, thank you. That was for the Marriage Equality single back in 2015. I was listening to a lot of Cure, Joy Division, and The Smiths at the time. I didn’t have time to write anything myself at the time, so I decided to rock up that version. Yeah, that was really an enjoyable moment, definitely.
FT: It’s so different from the original, really loved your version.
PS: Well, Ian Curtis was a genius, and yet another one we lost too soon. 23 years of age. The night he was due to leave Manchester for the States, and maybe conquer the world, and he just decided he didn’t want to be here anymore. I suppose that the great dichotomy and tragedy of being a great artist for some. Some of those, sadly, just don’t want to be here anymore, you know.
FT: Your screen career has really taken too, with ‘Erin Carter’ being a big hit on Netflix, and your first starring role in Code Red: Spain?
PS: I have a lovely production company called ‘Zero 3’, with my dear, dear friend, Francesca Kingdom, who is one of the co-producers on ‘Moonlight’. We made ‘Code Red: Spain’ together, and I worked with Guy Ritchie over the last year and worked on a Paramount Sci-Fi film, and some other bits and pieces coming up as well. I’m working with Jason Figgis, who is our director on ‘Moonlight.’ For me, it’s about the scripts, finding great scripts, and we have a few fantastic pieces that we are looking to get made.
So yeah, exciting times ahead
FT: Lastly, Peter, there have been other projects attempted about Phil aimed at a cinematic release, by heavy hitters like Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, both projects also had your good self, playing Phil, which sadly never came to Fruition. Are you hopeful that ‘Moonlight’, might make it to the silver screen this time around?
PS: It’s funny you should ask that Damian, because I think John’s script is a natural screenplay because of it’s nature.
When I read the script the first time, it reminded me of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once upon a time in Hollywood’, in that it’s a love letter to someone who should not be gone, but he is. So I think it could easily be done. And yeah, I would very much like to be part of it if it gets made in time, because I don’t know if I can play Philip forever, but I shall certainly try.
FT: Peter, it’s been a treat talking to you, and I’m so looking forward to seeing the play in Belfast.
PS: It’s been a pleasure, hope to see you in Belfast.
‘Moonlight: The Philip Lynott Enigma’ opens in the Ulster Hall on 8th October