29 March 2024 The Irish Film & Television Network
     
Soap Series: Interview with ‘Ros na Rún’ actress Fionnuala Ni Fhlatharta
28 Aug 2015 : Seán Brosnan
Fionnuala Ni Fhlatharta has played Berni for almost 20 years
This summer IFTN is taking a closer look behind the scenes of Ireland’s soaps – continuing our series we talk to ‘Ros na Rún’ actress Fionnuala Ni Fhlatharta – who has played Berni on the drama since its’ inception.

Over the past 20 years, Berni has been at the heart of many of ‘Ros na Rún’s’ more memorable storylines and last year was no different as her fiancé Cathal attempted to kill her and himself in a joint murder/suicide. Entering into season 20, Fionnuala talks to us about her work on the show, what we can expect for next season and returning to set after the sad real-life passing of one its more revered characters - Seamus Mhicil Tom (Dermot Nester).

IFTN: First off, there aren’t too many actors/actresses – in Ireland or otherwise - who can say they have played the same character for 20 years…

Fionnuala Ni Fhlatharta: ‘There is actually a core group of us on ‘Ros na Rún’ that have been there since the start which I suppose is odd for a television show. In terms of living in a small village in the West of Ireland though, it brings about a certain bit of realism as many people wouldn’t really be leaving these villages. But yeah, it has been almost 20 years and a lot has happened to my character – a lot of ups and downs – my own life isn’t as exciting thank God!’

When we talked to director Deirdre Ni Fhlatharta and writer Peadar Cox – they both spoke about ‘Ros na Rún’ being a great training ground for their crafts – did you find that too?

‘I think you learn all the time as an actor no matter what you are doing but yeah ‘Ros na Rún’ is definitely a good place to learn your craft. There is such a quick turnaround that you can be just thrown in at the deep end. The pressure is on and I think that is a great way to learn I think. You have to nail your lines, you have to hit your marks – you are constantly against the clock but thankfully we all work together on ‘Ros na Rún’ so it was definitely a great place to learn.’

And you only shoot ‘Ros na Rún’ for six months of the year – do you like that element of working for the show – that you are free for the other six months to concentrate on other projects?

‘Yes, it is definitely a good element of the show that you can try for other work on the time you are off. I am in a different situation now as I have two young kids so I would not be going too mad searching at the minute. Before I had the kids however, I would have done a lot of cartoon voice-over work in the summers. We have Abú Media and Telegael here in the west that do a lot of animation work so that’s great.’

And obviously you have been at the forefront of some huge storylines over the past 19/20 years – your character has had affairs, had a husband burn to death and last season your fiancé tried to kill you! But, how do you handle the times when your character is not given what you’d consider to be interesting storylines or is there a rota to ensure everyone gets their time in the spotlight?

‘Yeah, there is a certain ebb and flow with a lot of the storylines. Your character can’t have a main story going on all the time because you’d be exhausted! Last year – as you said – Berni had a fairly major storyline running up to Christmas where my fiancé Cathal tried to kill myself, my son and himself in a murder/suicide but my son Evan ended up killing him! The drama of it [laughs]. But after that storyline, you would kind of have to come down from it and let another storyline take over. So the way I think it works is that one major storyline would just be starting as yours is at its’ peak and then that takes over once yours is finished.’

‘Ros na Rún’ has been noted in the media for a lot of hard-hitting storylines – some more hard-hitting than their English-language counterparts like the one you just mentioned….

‘Yeah I’d agree with that. What I like about the writing behind ‘Ros na Rún’ is that they build the stories very nicely – they never do it just for the sake of sensationalism. They always plant a nice seed perhaps a year or two beforehand and it goes from there. I think the writing team behind ‘Ros na Rún’ are very careful in making sure the storylines are acceptable and realistic. It’s great as an actor because you are constantly reading scripts and thinking that what you are reading is believable. I would hate to be in a position where I was reading scripts and thinking “oh God, my character would never do that”.’

And has that ever happened with Berni over the past 20 years – where you have disagreed with an upcoming storyline of hers?

‘Not really. If there is anything small and you have a query on it you are able to go in and talk to the Executive Producer or the storyline writer. They will normally agree with you and scenes can be tweaked – they are so open and I think they actually like things being brought to their attention as sometimes things can leak through without them noticing – there is so much going on. In the past 20 years though, that has not happened much. They really know their characters well.’

Have you noticed many changes within the dynamics of the show from 20 years ago to present day?

‘We are recording more episodes than we used to so there is definitely a jump in the workload. We have a big turnover in the episodes every two weeks so the pressure is bigger. Also, we used to work nine months of the year and now we work six months. We also have quite a big turnover of crew because ‘Ros na Run’ is such a good training ground – so you might have directors or writers or crew-members who would be with us and then might move on to ‘Fair City’ or ‘Red Rock’ or whatever. So it is changing all the time.’

From an actors perspective then, can you tell us a little about the turnaround of an average block of episodes?

‘We normally get the scripts about two weeks before shooting and then we have two weeks to shoot six episodes. You will be working with two different directors in that time as each director gets three episodes. We have studios – Studio A and Studio B. So, in Studio A you would have one director working on one block and Studio B would have the other director working on the next block. It’s a complicated element of working on ‘Ros na Rún’ I suppose. In one day you could be going from different studios a couple of times. So, you really need to have your research done to make sure you are prepared for all the different scenes that are thrown at you. You could go from being happy in one scene in Studio A and then move on to Studio B with a different director where you are shooting a scene five episodes later and you are in a completely different head-space. So, you just have to be on top of your game and have the work done on all the scripts.’

How important is it for you that ‘Ros na Rún’ is a show in the Irish language that has managed to be enduring quality wise over the past 20 years?

‘Oh very important. We are all so proud of it. In 1996, it was such a proud moment for me that we had our own Irish language channel in TG4 and then to be involved with ‘Ros na Rún’ was fantastic. We all joked at the start that we would almost do it for free because we were so happy to be involved. Now, we didn’t say that for long because you do have to make a living out of it!’

Can you tell us a little about what is in store for Berni for season 20? It will surely be a quiet year after all the drama of last year?!

‘I honestly don’t have a clue – we are getting the scripts soon. It will be strange this year because we lost a great character in Seamus Mhicil Tom, played by Dermot Nestor. He passed away this summer and I know it will be so odd for all of us without him and we are really going to miss him. He was one of the most well-known characters – you ask anyone who watches ‘Ros na Rún’ who their favourite character is and I am sure they will say Seamus. But more important than that, Dermot was a lovely man. I am sure he will be with us in spirit. So, I am sure there will be some shifting in terms of scripting to deal with that. We will return with some sadness on the screen but I hope we can make this season a great season for him.’

Stay tuned to IFTN for more features and interviews on soaps and long-running dramas in Ireland such as ‘Fair City’ ‘Ros Na Rún’ and ‘Red Rock’.





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