Jim Norton: Conor McPherson's Poetry of the Everyday
Jim Norton's Tony Award nomination for The Seafarer represents a perfect match between actor and material. Beginning with an acclaimed performance in The Weir a decade ago, Norton has appeared in five plays by Conor McPherson, demonstrating each time a sensitivity to the Irish playwright's gift for language and storytelling. Norton won London's Olivier Award last year for The Seafarer, in which he created the demanding central role of Richard Harkin, a blind drunk literally who entertains a varied group of poker players, including the Devil himself, on the night before Christmas. If you missed Norton in the Broadway production of The Seafarer, you can catch him through June 22 in McPherson's Port Authority at the Atlantic Theater Company, in which he co-stars with Brian d'Arcy James and John Gallagher Jr. Why do Dublin natives Norton and McPherson work so well together? We asked the celebrated actor to share his thoughts on the subject—and his reaction to being nominated for a Tony.
I first became aware of Conor McPherson when I saw his early play This Lime Tree Bower, a coming-of-age story told by three young men in a small Irish town. Shortly after that, I saw Brian Cox perform Conor's one-man play St. Nicholas, in which a drama critic talks about his encounters with vampires. Conor was only in his mid-20s when he wrote these plays, but I knew then I was hearing a truly original voice that was able to raise everyday speech to a poetic level.
When I received the script of The Weir, I thought I would die if I didn't play the part of Jack, the oldest of four drinking buddies who take turns telling stories at their favorite bar. Everything I knew about acting, and the little I knew about life, was encapsulated in this part. Even though the play is set in a small Irish village it has a universality that reaches out to everybody. I played Jack for nearly two years, in London, Dublin, Toronto and Brussels, and then the dream came through for me, which was to play it on Broadway!
As a director, Conor watches quietly and gives actors the space to explore their characters but gently points us in the right direction. He creates a calm, democratic ambience but is the final arbiter of what happens on stage. I think the reason Conor and I get on so well is that we are both Dubliners, from working class backgrounds, and we share an irreverence for the more rarified excesses of the theater world. All of his plays are about loss and redemption but they are also great entertainment, with wonderful characters to play.
Perhaps our most fulfilling and challenging collaboration began in 2006 when the National Theater presented Conor's production of The Seafarer. I played a hard-drinking man who has recently gone blind and presides over an unusual gathering in his living room on Christmas Eve. Speaking of my character, Conor told me he wanted an engine to drive the play, and I was the fittest old actor he knew! On our opening night in London, producer Bill Haber said he wanted The Seafarer for Broadway, and he fulfilled that promise in the most generous and gracious manner.
We loved the warm New York audiences who came to see the play at the Booth Theatre, the welcoming theatrical community and, for all of us in the Seafarer company, our four Tony nominations are the icing on the cake. It may be a cliché, but Broadway really is a family, and I am so honored to have been adopted into its warm embrace!