In her impressive career to date, Newry-born actress Valene Kane has featured in memorable TV roles in The Fall, Blue Lights and Gangs of London, joined the Star Wars universe for Rogue One and treaded the boards with the Royal Shakespeare Company as Lady Macbeth.
This October she features in the ensemble cast of Reunion, written and directed by Mark O'Rowe, running at the Gaiety Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival.
We asked Valene for her choice cultural picks...
FILM
I've taken to watching all my old classic favourites. Terms of Endearment is just such a beautiful piece of work in every way. The writing. The performances. The observations of humanity. Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson are electric together. Watching life like this on screen is so rare... James L. Brooks is a genius in that way. Broadcast News will be my next rewatch.
MUSIC
I’m writing a film script based in and around Dublin, so have been listening to local artists to help create the world. I love Orla Gartland. She is a sexpot and her music is so evocative. Fontaines DC are never off shuffle - In The Modern World is one of those eerie and heartbreaking songs that needs to be listened to over and over again.
BOOK
Peggy by Rebecca Godfrey, a portrait of Peggy Guggenheim. Peggy is one of my all-time heroes; a true outlier, her own autobiography is astonishing, but this is much more a study of the woman from lots of different sources, her childhood, the relationship with her father who died on the titanic, her relationship to her siblings and to her many lovers including Samuel Beckett; it was fascinating to get material on him through her recollection of their love affair; next will be Parisian Lives, written by Beckett's biographer Deirdre Bair about Beckett and Simone de Beauvoir. I Love that period in history.
THEATRE
The Seagull at The Barbican, London with Cate Blanchett and Tom Burke. I love Tom. And I love Chekov, especially when his plays are reworked by someone exciting. And I think Thomas Ostermeier is one of those exciting people. But nothing can ever come close to Simon Stone’s Yerma with Billie Piper. She is extraordinary in it. She is a living breathing human on stage rather than an actor, and it’s those kinds of artists I am drawn to. I watch everything Simon does, multiple times. He has an ability to root out the nugget of classic texts and give them an immediacy that stays with an audience.
TV
I am bad with TV. I mainly watch reality; I live for Below Deck. But I like rewatching the ones I love, like I May Destroy You or The Honorable Woman. However, I did recently watch Jury Duty on Amazon, and it restored my faith in humanity: Ronald is a legend, The concept is so brilliant, all of the actors (some of whom are also writers on the show) are so witty and it gave me proper belly laughs.
GIG
I'm going to see London Grammar in November. I love this band so much; hearing them live lifts my soul.
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ART
The last exhibition that really moved me was Marina Abramović at the Royal Academy in London. Marina is another one of those people that are endlessly fascinating. There are not many women in the world like her. I went several times and found it quite confronting every time, which is what art should do. It should move us, it should make us feel. I think she continually asks the question, ‘Where are you hiding?" and as an artist it’s your goal to be fearless and reveal. Which isn’t an easy thing to do. It’s much much easier to hide.
PODCAST
On Being with Krista Tippet. She interviews curious people I would not normally come across and their conversations together search for the deepest understanding of things. They always change me in some way. The one I return to again and again is John O’Donoghue. His voice, his understanding of the land we come from and how to use ancient wisdom. He’s a dude.
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TECH
Oh god most of my life right now is trying to get rid of tech. I want as many tangible things that I can touch and hold and feel real. However we did treat ourselves to a robot hoover and I love her. You can automate her so that when we both leave the house, she will do a clean. It really is the bee knees. I am a clean freak so it’s a joy to come back to sparkling floors.
THE NEXT BIG THING...
Rosalia. I mean, she already is a big thing. I just think the world needs more of her. She is so outspoken and real and in a world of cookie cutter algorithm chicks, she gives me hope.
Reunion runs 8-13 October at the Gaiety Theatre as part of Dublin Theatre Festival - find out more here.
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