{"id":424909,"date":"2026-04-30T09:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/424909\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T09:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:24:17","slug":"it-was-a-challenge-to-play-a-character-very-different-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/424909\/","title":{"rendered":"It was a challenge to play a character \u2018very different to me\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish actress Nicola Coughlan has said it was a \u201creally interesting challenge\u201d to play a character who was \u201cvery different to me\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old is best known for playing panicky student Clare Devlin on Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls, and quiet wallflower Penelope Bridgerton in the Netflix series Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

But earlier this year, the actress took to the stage in London to star in The Playboy Of The Western World as the spirited, independent and sharp-tongued Pegeen Mike.<\/p>\n

The play, written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge, follows Christy Mahon (Eanna Hardwicke), who is on the run in rural Ireland, gaining local fame and winning the heart of Pegeen Mike after claiming he killed his father.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Press Association, Coughlan spoke highly of her character and said: \u201cI love that she is very different to me in that she knows how to exist in a world of men.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been surrounded by women, but Pegeen doesn\u2019t know how to deal with women. It\u2019s a really interesting challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she\u2019s surrounded by a group of women, she is in completely foreign territory. She\u2019s terrified.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, I do like how she commands respect, how the men are scared of her, and they know it\u2019s her pub and she has this. And I love how violent she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to play someone like that. She\u2019s so bossy, I love how bossy she is. And female violence is usually never depicted as that kind of violence \u2013 it\u2019s usually a “mean girls\u201d sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A performance of The Playboy of the Western World was recorded for National Theatre Live during its three-month run, and it will be available to watch in cinemas across the UK later this year.<\/p>\n

Coughlan told PA it was \u201cnerve-wracking, but in a nice way\u201d to film the show, adding: \u201cIt did give that little level of realisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Galway-born star said: \u201cTheatre is live. It\u2019s happening. It\u2019s a shared, ephemeral experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though this is filmed, it was a one-time thing. There are no edits \u2013 you\u2019re going to see it as the audience saw it at that time. And it\u2019s really beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible to film the show and to be broadcast around the world. I grew up in Ireland, and you don\u2019t get to see things from the National Theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear about these things, but the fact that now people can see it everywhere is a really brilliant thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following its stage debut in Dublin in 1907, the play historically caused week-long riots as it was believed to be an offensive portrayal of Irish people.<\/p>\n

Coughlan said, \u201cI\u2019m really proud that we\u2019ve done the proper version with the proper accents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have done some sort of museum piece that was very accessible, but this is the play as it was written, where it\u2019s not changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Gird<\/p>\n

Entertainment<\/p>\n

Gird your loins: Critics react to The Devil Wears Prada 2<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The actress also hailed working on a traditionally Irish play with Irish cast and crew members as \u201clovely\u201d, adding: \u201cWe could be very honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we just tried to play it quite authentically.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The reaction) is interesting because you have the reviewers \u2013 very British reviewers \u2013 going, \u2018it\u2019s very Irish\u2019, and you go, \u2018well, yeah, it is\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Playboy Of The Western World will be available to watch in cinemas across the UK as part of NT Live from May 28th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish actress Nicola Coughlan has said it was a \u201creally interesting challenge\u201d to play a character who was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-424909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}