2 minute read
History
Padraig Murray
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64 Actor From: Dublin Lives in: Dublin
What is your connection with the building? In the mid- to late-1990s I was involved with Lee Dunne in a production of Goodbye to the Hill. It was the longest-running comedy in the history of Irish theatre. When that had all died down, I got a call from Lee saying he was looking to do a sequel called Return to the Hill. We did it here in the Eblana around 1995. I played Paddy Maguire in both plays, the main character. It was actually the last show here.
What kind of a theatre venue was the Eblana? Phillis Ryan and Gemini Productions did a huge number of shows here. There were lots of big productions in the Eblana. When I was a young lad starting off in the industry in Dublin, the Eblana was one of the recognised theatres.
Rory O’Neill (aka Panti Bliss)
52 Entertainer and publican From: Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo Lives in: Dublin
What’s your connection to the building? We didn’t have a community school when we finished primary school, so we had to go somewhere else. We were sent to Gormanstown, nextdoor to my granny’s. So I used to get the train three times a year from Mayo to Heuston and come to Busáras to get the bus to Gormanstown. There were rumours that it was dodgy and there was crusiness around the toilets, and so the building to me was always edgy. My first sense that there were queers around was here. It has that exciting, crazy hint of danger about it. It was dark and dingy and thrilling.
What do you think of the building? I didn’t appreciate it at all when I was a teenager. It was just a bus station. I went straight from that school in Gormanstown to art college. My best friend in college, Niall Sweeney, as a Dubliner and a designer, has always been obsessed by Busáras. Architects get Busáras, but the average punter in Dublin does not, so me and Niall used to feel like we were pioneers, having to defend it all the time. One of the reasons why local Dubliners don’t appreciate it is because you can’t get a good view of it. It’s underappreciated because the city itself never gave the people the opportunity to appreciate it.
There were rumours that it was dodgy ... and so the building to me was always edgy.
