Paul Mescal’s father rekindles love of stage in Donegal showband musical

Paul Mescal snr, the father of the Oscar-nominated actor, is to take to the stage himself in a play about the showband era. He has joined a Naas-based theatre company, A Likely Story, to perform an original play with music next month. Are Ya Dancin’? A Showband Story, set in Donegal in the 1960s, is said to capture the magic of the showband era and the social injustices of the time.

Mescal snr said he isn’t hoping to emulate his son’s career, though. “There would be a little bit of a chasm between my experience and all of the professional experience Paul has gleaned over the last 10 years,” he said.

Paul snr’s father was a farmer and actor in his parish drama group in west Co Clare. “When I was 12 or 13 back in the mid-’70s, I asked him to put me into a play that he was directing – I was completely miscast of course – but I’ve been on the stage since then.”

“My father never saw Paul jnr on stage,” he said. “It would have been lovely to see that lineage.”

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[ Paul Mescal jnr: ‘I didn’t know actors growing up ... Actors didn’t come from Maynooth’ ]

Throughout his college years and when he started working as a primary schoolteacher in 1988, Paul snr continued acting with various drama groups, trying his hand at directing and even spending a year at the Gaiety School of Acting in the mid-1990s. “I was considering going pro, but I didn’t,” he said. As the years went by and his family grew older, he pulled back from theatre. His last show was a production of Sweeney Todd in 2013.

When Carol Gleeson and Helen Spring were looking to cast Seamie McDaid, a grumpy bar owner, they recalled seeing Paul snr on stage some years back and invited him to audition.

“It’s a very large presence of a character so we needed somebody who is very commanding on stage,” said Gleeson.

Paul snr said he won’t be giving any tips to his famous son just yet. “[Paul jnr] never did have any sort of bias towards being an actor until he hit his mid-teens. There wouldn’t have been any occasion for me to impart knowledge to him. But yes, if he did see me now, he would be the one imparting knowledge.”

Paul snr’s daughter, Nell, is also a talented singer, performing a warm-up set for Florence and the Machine in Musgrave Park last Monday.

“We are all extremely proud of her and we’re absolutely delighted that she’s doing these things,” said Paul snr. “It’s not an easy road for her. She’s persisting and long may she continue and have the strength to do so.”

Paul snr plans to retire from Scoil na Mainistreach in Celbridge, Co Kildare, next year and hopes to perform more often in the coming years.

Are Ya Dancin’? A Showband Story runs at The Civic Theatre, Tallaght, July 13th-15th