I lived at No 28 Kenilworth Road in Dublin 6 for about eight years from when I was 18. It was a basement flat in an old Victorian house near Rathmines. I had been looking for somewhere to live in Dublin, as I had just moved from Derry. A friend, Aideen O’Donnell, said she had this place and offered me a room.
I didn’t even bother going to see it. I just jumped at the chance of being able to hang out with Aideen all the time, so I took the room.
The flat had a living room, a kitchen and about four other rooms that were used as bedrooms. It had a long garden out the back. It was mostly just Aideen and I who lived there, but a few others passed through. The singer Phil Callery, from the Voice Squad, lived with us for a while.
Although I was trying to make a career for myself, the years at No 28 were really all about music and making friends. It was a great party house — if the walls could only talk.
Phil and Aideen knew lots of awesome musicians who were always hanging out. People like Glen Hansard and Mundy used to show up and play a lot. I remember Paddy Casey being around too. He was only a baby and too shy to sing — or even talk. I remember Glen trying to encourage him to sing for ages.
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When I first came to Dublin, I had been doing my A-levels up in Derry and I had notions of going on to study art. Back then, the reality of becoming an actress seemed distant. I had done some amateur stuff in Derry, and I tried to get into a couple of drama schools, but none of them would take me. I really couldn’t act in the traditional sense of the word — I couldn’t deliver a Shakespeare text. All I could be was myself.
I got a few breaks, though. I used to do a bit of babysitting in Derry for a film-maker called Margo Harkin, who directed Hush-a-Bye Baby. Margo helped get me a few parts, including one in Dear Sarah, a television film about the Guildford Four.
I did a couple of pieces with the director Michael Winterbottom when he was a student. I had been accepted by the National Youth Theatre when I was offered one of them. I was all ready to say, “No thanks, Mr Winterbottom, I am going to do this”, but thankfully someone talked me out of it and I did the film.
When I heard they were casting The Commitments, I desperately wanted to be in it, but they refused to see me because I was from Derry. As far as I was concerned, it was just about having a Dublin accent and I reckoned I could do that easily.
When Alan Parker couldn’t find what he was looking for in Dublin, he started looking up north, so I went for it. After about five auditions, I got the part of Bernie.
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After that, things got very, very busy. I was always travelling, but when I came back it was great to spend time in the flat and see all my mates. In Dublin, I would basically hang out having coffee in Rathmines or going to gigs at Whelan’s.
Going to gigs was really my thing. Even though I love the theatre and love performing in it, I was always much more interested in seeing live music.
In the flat, Aideen and I would have musically themed parties. Everyone would come back after the pub and we might have a party where only Beatles records were played, or only Led Zeppelin, or only Tom Waits. I wouldn’t let anyone else touch the record decks.
We were really into the Meters at the time and had a couple of Meters parties, where we all dressed up in ridiculous 1970s costumes and danced all night. And I would like to apologise to the neighbours about that. They must have had to put up with a lot.
We also discovered lot of music films that we would watch over and over again, like The Last Waltz.
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No 28 was a sort of a social headquarters and my time there was when I realised how important my friends were to me. It wasn’t until afterwards that I recognised how happy I had been living there.
In Dublin back then, it seemed like a time when people felt anything was possible. There was no fear and a real sense of freedom. Eventually, however, there was also a sense that you had to move on, which I did when I moved to London.
These days, I often pass by No 28 and I always make a point of saying hello to it.
Bronagh Gallagher will perform with the Stars from the Commitments at the O2 Dublin on March 19