Portrait unveiled to mark Billy Roche’s 70th

A specially-commissioned portrait of the playwright and author Billy Roche was unveiled at Wexford Arts Centre to mark his 70th birthday.

The portrait was painted by the artist and Pigyard Gallery owner Tony Robinson at the request of the Arts Centre which is also marking its 45th anniversary this year.

The unveiling took place at the official opening by Billy of the Arts Centre’s annual Christmas Craft Fair featuring the work of Wexford artists and craftmakers, which is continuing until December 23.

The portrait shows the Ballast Bank in the background, a place that has featured in a lot of the playwright’s work and characters caught under a streetlight which Billy said reminded him of ‘Johnny Nobody’.

Recalling the start of his writing career, he said a priest in Clonard asked him to help get local youngsters off the street. He founded the Pocket Theatre Company and wrote a musical which was performed in the Arts Centre, followed by Amphibians in the same venue, initiatives that produced the likes of Claud Clancy, Tony Carty and John Crosbie.

He described the Arts Centre as his Alma Mater. It was where he had his first outing as a musician. His first play ‘A Handful of Stars’ was staged there and Lay me Down Softly as well as an adaptation from his book of short stories Tales from Rainwater Pond which was launched in Italian last weekend, with an introduction by John Banville, after a translator picked up a copy in a second hand book shop.

Billy thanked Arts Centre Executive Director Elizabeth Whyte for honouring him and Tony Robinson for executing the painting so well.

‘I met Tony 40 years ago - he designed posters for the Pocket Theatre Company. It was no chore to sit for him. It was wonderful to watch his magic unfold’, he said.

Billy encouraged people to visit the Craft Fair to view and buy beautiful bespoke treasures made by Terry Dunne, Martin Doyle, Tess Reynolds, Rebecca Homfray, Mairead Cairbre, Mary Gallagher, Annette Whelan, Bianca Divito, John Dunn, Patricia Howard and Mairead Stafford.