Pop Culturalist Chats with Charles Dale

In the play taking Broadway by storm, The Ferryman, Charles Dale plays Father Horrigan, a comforting and much-loved priest in a small Irish community. As a member of the West End cast, he transferred with the (outstanding!) show to Broadway.

We were happy to chat with Charles about his role, experiencing the production in two different countries, and what he’s hoping to check off his career bucket list.

PC: What initially drew you to The Ferryman?
Charles: I had just done a TV series in the UK for about eight and a half years, and, while I enjoyed it very much, I just needed a change. So, I played a drag queen in a musical. My agent said, “You want different, this is different.” [It was] a new musical called Everybody’s Talking About Jamie–which hopefully is going to be coming here at some point because it’s amazing. Then, I did a couple more little bits and pieces of TV, and, then all of a sudden, I got a call saying that they were recasting The Ferryman. It was Sam [Mendes], and I worked with Sam just after he had left university. It was obvious then that he was very bright and intelligent. Obviously, he’s gone from strength to strength, and I just really wanted to work with Sam again. I’m also a really big fan of Jez’s work. I had heard really good things about the show. [Basically] it was just a continuation of moving away from television for a while.

PC: How did you prepare for the role of Father Horrigan?
Charles: Because we were coming in as a second cast, we prepared pretty quickly! We had a fairly limited amount of rehearsal with Sam, but we had wonderful associate, Tim, who took us through it. We rehearsed for three weeks or so, and then, basically, we opened in the West End. It was fairly quick.

PC: Did you see the original cast before you went on?
Charles: Yeah, we saw the original cast. I don’t normally do that, but Sam was quite keen for us to see the original show because there’s so many people on stage at any one time. So, you need to do that just to actually get the choreography of it, if nothing else. It’s a very complicated piece physically.

PC: How was it coming in as a second cast? I’m assuming there were original cast members who stayed in, too.
Charles: Yeah, there were quite a few of the original cast still in. I think there were about five or six of us that came in. We then rehearsed every day with the cast for about a week, I think. It was great. Everybody seemed to get along really well. That’s the thing about this show: everybody’s always got on really well.

Paddy Considine (Quinn Carney) and Charles Dale (Father Horrigan) in The Ferryman. Photo credit: Joan Marcus

PC: What has the transfer from the West End to Broadway been like?
Charles: Well, that was wonderful because we actually got more time with Sam because he had [more] time. We rehearsed consistently with Sam for about three weeks. We actually almost went back to the beginning. The original cast said they had been up against time, too, since they were developing it as it was going on.

I think the play’s in a better position than it’s ever been. We had more time with Sam, Jez was around, and there was a lot more discussion about things that, perhaps, we hadn’t had the chance to talk about previously.

PC: Because the play has such a historical significance for Ireland that American audiences might not be as familiar with, have you found the audience reactions to be different?
Charles: As a friend of mine–she lives in New York–said to me, “You know you’re gonna get more Irish people in the audience here than you are in England.” There’s a massive Irish population in New York. There are certain references….[like] there’s one line that used to get a big laugh in the UK which was: “He’s wearing a pair of Gola trainers.” Well, some Americans know what Gola trainers are; some don’t. But when we say, “Timex wristwatch,” they know what we’re talking about. [Those references] are very few and far between, though. I mean, the audiences here are very informed; they’re real good listening audiences. I think the reaction has been better.

PC: Has there been a challenging aspect of playing Father Horrigan? 
Charles: When you play Horrigan there’s a possibility he’s weak from the beginning. I never wanted him to be weak from the beginning. I wanted him to be a good, sturdy, country priest who is a good man, is a strong man, and is a helpful friendly man who looks after his community and his parish. He has turned because, ultimately, the IRA are threatening his sister, and he has no choice. He sold his soul. In the end, that’s what he does. He breaks the sacrament of confession, but he does it for his sister. Toward the end of the play, hopefully, there is some kind of redemption for him.

The challenging thing with theater is repetition; that is certainly true when it’s emotionally charged. You have to find a way in every single night because you can’t busk it. We are pretending, yes, but there has to be an emotional reality behind that. The audiences aren’t stupid; they’ll work it out quickly enough.

PC: As you said, you had been on TV for a while. Looking ahead in your career, is there anything that you still want to tackle?
Charles: I really like independent small film. I enjoy the intimacy of screen acting because they can see into your eyes; they can see into your soul.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

Last TV Show You Binge-Watched
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, actually, which was a major surprise. When I was younger, it was Melissa Joan Hart and really innocent. Because I get Act II off, there’s quite a bit of binge-watching. Gerard, who played Horrigan previously, left me a note in the dressing room saying, “Get Netflix!” I’ve watched Ozark. The Good Place is a nice, gentle comedy. I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ documentaries as well.

Favorite Film
It’s almost impossible! [pause] Oh, Blazing Saddles! I like quirky movies. I love The Grand Budapest Hotel. I love the Coen brothers. I think they are phenomenal.

Book You’ve Read Recently That You Loved
I read a lot of books by Max Hastings who is a military historian.

Favorite Play or Musical
The new musical I mentioned that has been on the West End: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. It’s a wonderful musical about a young man who wants to be a drag queen.

Artist or Musician You Could Listen to on Repeat
James Taylor

Place You’d Most Like to Go
My hometown Tenby in West Wales. It’s got five white sand beaches.

Person You’d Most Like to Meet Someday
I’d like to meet my mum. She passed away thirty years ago.

Stay up-to-date with Charles Dale by following him on Twitter. For more information on The Ferryman, click here.