Promising Longford actor primed for Abbey debut

Backstage Youth Theatre has a good track record for developing talent. Over the years the local drama collective have furnished The National Youth Theatre with young actors for their bi-annual programme.

The National Youth Theatre (NYT) is a biennial event that sees 20 young people from youth theatres across Ireland working together for a year.

This year BYT member Setanta Flood will participate in the exciting programme. The 2023 National Youth Theatre director Niall Cleary and playwright Eimear Hussey are working with an ensemble of sixteen young actors and four young designers to create a new play about dance, care, and agency.

The play, 'Like We Were Born To Move!', will debut on the Peacock Stage of the Abbey theatre next week. When Setanta spoke to the Leader about his involvement in the show last week it was still at the rehearsal stage.

“We are in Cork for the last three weeks,” the young actor said as he took a break from the rehearsals taking place in Graffiti Theatre, Cork.

“We are just getting to know the play, going through it scene by scene. Next week we head up to Dublin for our tech week. After that we take to the Peacock Stage of the Abbey Theatre,” the talented young performer said.

Such chances for young performers to show their capabilities on a national stage are rare: “It's absolutely amazing. It is great to be able to work with new people. It can get stressful.

“You have to mentally prepare yourself as well. I have worked with some of the people in the play before over the last few years. Working on a professional level has been incredible, and of course getting the chance to perform in the Abbey Theatre.”

Setanta comes from a family steeped in music and drama. His father is a musician, his aunt lectures in drama and his grandmother has written plays, acted and is a driving force in the Longford traditional music circuit: “We are very involved in Irish music and theatre,” he said.

Over the weekend Setanta was participating in Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2023. His band, Ríl Óg, consisting of Dylan Hanly (Accordion), Tomás Mulligan (Banjo & Fiddle) and Setanta (Bodhrán & Guitar) played the Arts Centre in Mullingar.

He says he has equal passion for both disciplines: “Before I was probably leaning more toward music, but in the last few years drama has probably taken over, but where drama goes music will follow.”

The preview of 'Like We Were Born To Move!' is on Monday August 14, with the opening night scheduled for Wednesday, August 16 and the show will run to Sunday, August 19 on the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre.