Irish drama "breaks the mould" with Travellers
By DAMIAN LE BAS
AN Irish TV series has won praise for its work with members of the Travelling community as Gypsy and Traveller characters continue to be hot property in television drama.
Playwright and Traveller activist Rosaleen McDonagh says that Love/Hate, which airs on Irish TV channel RTE, has "broken the mould" in Irish drama by working with Travellers both on and off camera.
"For a number of years we were there and not there on television – often referred to and played by settled actors. Cultural participation in “mainstream” arts for Travellers has been tokenistic," writes McDonagh in the Irish Times.
Actor John Connors, who plays Patrick Ward in the show, has starred in several films including the 2012 feature King of the Travellers. He credits Love/Hate with landing him his first non-Traveller role in forthcoming drama Citizen Charlie, also on RTE.
Speaking to Voice of the Traveller magazine, Connors said: "I can't say anything about who I'm playing, other than it's a non-traveller part which is brand new to me. I'm really excited."
After several years of making headlines in reality TV and documentary programmes, Gypsy and Traveller characters have now become commonplace in contemporary drama.
International hit series Peaky Blinders charts the rise of First World War veteran Tommy Shelby and his family, whose Romany Gypsy heritage plays a crucial role in the series' plot. E4's eight part drama Glue featured several prominent Gypsy characters including male lead Eli Bray, played by Callum Turner; Kate Petulengro- played by actress Candis Nergaard, herself of Romany heritage- and Joe Petulengro, played by Welsh BAFTA-winner Jonny Owen.
"I've always been a fan of Traveller culture," says Owen.
Speaking to Travellers' Times, he said: "It's a really important part of British society and history that needs to be addressed. I was very disappointed in stuff that some channels have done about the [Travelling] community, it's been a little unfair really".