MY CULTURAL LIFE
Roseanne Lynch is an actor and playwright. With her husband, filmmaker and musician Richard Lennon, she is co-artistic director of Darn Skippy Productions. As well as running around in forests and splashing in puddles with their almost two-year-old daughter,
Violet, they also tell stories through film, theatre and music. Darn Skippy’s debut theatre production, Zandra, Queen
of Jazz — about Ireland’s first female saxophonist — premieres at Smock
Alley’s Boy School theatre (November 18-23: smockalley.com) with further performances in the Studio at dlr LexIcon, Dun Laoghaire (December 6-7: eventbrite. ie). darnskippy.com
Movie: The Grinch
Every Christmas, my mum and my sister and I need to watch The Grinch. The Jim Carey one. My sister moved to America a few years ago, and when she comes home at Christmas time, it’s like going back in time watching it. We have also been known to quote lines from the movie throughout the year. “MAX! Fetch me my sedative!”
Song: Mr Medicine Man
There is one song that has been playing in our house a lot recently — it’s called Mr
Medicine Man by Christian Wethered. We worked with Christian to make a video for it as part of a series called the Killiney Hill Sessions, (on YouTube, check it out!) so while Richard was editing it, we heard this song pretty much non-stop! It’s very hypnotic and magical and poetic.
Design: Saxophone
Saxophones! I’ve been spending a lot of time with my saxophone recently, getting ready to perform
Zandra, Queen of Jazz and it amazes me that somebody imagined this instrument and turned it into a real thing.
Book: The Goldfinch
With the obvious exceptions of The Rooms and The Ponzi
Man, those two masterpieces by my dad Declan Lynch… my favourite book is The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt. It completely took over my mind for the time I was reading it. The characters are so full and alive, I felt like I was living with them. It was so powerful. I felt real grief when I finished reading it, I wish I could unread it and experience it all
over again!
TV: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
At the moment, my favourite TV programme is Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I work at the weekends, teaching children’s drama workshops for the Gaiety School of Acting. So Monday mornings are like Sunday mornings for us. And our favourite way to spend a Monday morning is eating crumpets, drinking coffee and watching the latest episode.