Billy Roche

Infobox Playwright
colour = #d9d9ff
name = Billy Roche


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birth_date = 11 January 1949
birth_place = Wexford
death_date =
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nationality = Irish
ethnicity =
period = 1988-present
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spouse = Patti Roche
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awards = John Whiting Award
1989 "A Handful of Stars"
Plays and Players Award
1989 "A Handful of Stars"
George Devine Award
"Poor Beast in the Rain"
Thames Television Award
"Poor Beast in the Rain"
London Fringe Award
1991 "Belfry"
Time Out Award
1992 "Belfry"
San Sebastián International Film Festival Golden Shell Award
1996 "Trojan Eddie"
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Billy Roche (born 11 January 1949) is an Irish playwright and actor. He was born and still lives in Wexford and most of his writings are based there. Originally a singer with The Roach Band, he turned to writing in the 1980s.

Career

The Wexford Trilogy

Roche is best known for the three full length plays forming "The Wexford Trilogy", all premiered at the Bush Theatre in London, directed by Robin Lefevre:
*"A Handful of Stars" (1988)::Set in the sleazy pool room of a Wexford snooker club: "If the stars are the twinkling illusion of a smile on a woman's face, adolescent longings soon contrive to send one boy up the aisle to a shotgun wedding and the other down river to face penal retribution." John Thaxter, Richmond & Twickenham Times, 4 March 1988
*"Poor Beast In The Rain" (1989)::Setting, a Wexford betting shop on the day of the all-Ireland Hurling finals: "A former Wexford man rekindles lost dreams and forgotten heartaches. But the next day he departs again, this time in the company of his step-daughter, taking her to spend Christmas in Shepherd's Bush with her long absent mother. An interlocking drama, rich in the comedy of self-deceptiion, reflecting the transience of youth and fretful middle-age." Ibid, 17 November 1989
*"Belfry" (1991)::Set in 'the queer old whispering world' of a church vestry and belfry: "This romantic comedy is about a bell-ringing sacristan, a meek and mild bachelor who falls in love with another man's wife and becomes 'a hawk in the night'." Ibid, 22 November 1991

The three plays were also directed by Stuart Burge for BBC television in 1993 with the original Bush cast members.

As Michael Billington has noted, the 1980s were not a good decade for new dramatists and one can point to only a handful who made any significant mark. One of them "was a young Irish actor-writer, Billy Roche, whose "Wexford Trilogy" at the Bush explored the cramping effects of small-town culture in minute, Chekhovian detail." [cite book |last=Billington |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Billington (critic) |title=State of the Nation: British Theatre since 1945 |origdate=2007-11-01 |publisher=Faber and Faber |isbn=978-0-571-21034-3 |oclc=163616670 |pages=318 |chapter=VIII Scenes From An Execution: 1979-90 |quote=was a young Irish actor-writer, Billy Roche, whose "Wexford Trilogy" at the Bush explored the cramping effects of small-town culture in minute, Chekhovian detail.]

Other work

Roche's other work includes the novel "Tumbling Down" (Wolfhound Press, Dublin, 1986); "Amphibians" (RSC 1992); "The Cavalcaders" (Abbey Theatre, Dublin 1993; Royal Court 1994); the screenplay for "Trojan Eddie" (Film Four/Irish Screen, 1997) starring Richard Harris and Stephen Rea; and "On Such As We" (Abbey Theatre, Dublin 2001}.

As an actor he has appeared in "Aristocrats" by Brian Friel (Hampstead Theatre 1988), "The Cavalcaders" (1993), "Trojan Eddie" (1997) and "Man About Dog" (film comedy 2004).

In 2005, Billy handpicked students from all over Wexford for his teachings. Together, they invented the first 'Novus' magazine which went on sale a number of days after the group disbanded. These students, who were given the best of tutoring from Billy and his longtime friend Eoin Colfer (author of the internationally acclaimed novels "Artemis Fowl"), were the first in a long line of students under Billy's coaching.

Each had their own short stories which Roche and Colfer both went through with the students and helped them make changes to better suit the stories. Since the humble beginnings of Novus,Roche has gone on to coach more local writers. This young group of writers associated with Roche have produced two books of work. Inked (2007) and Inked 2 (2008) are perhaps the best of what has come from Billy's hard work tutoring.

Billy Roche's collection of short stories, "Tales from Rainwater Pond" was published by Pillar Press, Kilkenny, in 2006.

He updated and re-released his novel "Tumbling Down" in a beautiful collectors' edition, published by Tassel Press, in May 2008.

In 2007 he was elected a member of Aosdána.

References

*Theatre Record and its annual Indexes
*Halliwell's Film Companion

External links

*imdb name|id=0733913|name=Billy Roche
* [http://www.irishplayography.com/search/person.asp?PersonID=1208 Irish Theatre Institute playography: Billy Roche]
* [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/roche-billy.html Doollee.com playwright database: Billy Roche]