{"id":634210,"date":"2026-10-18T09:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T09:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/634210\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T09:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T09:30:11","slug":"sharon-horgan-on-exploring-middle-age-in-youth-its-the-sandwich-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/634210\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Horgan on exploring middle-age in Youth: “It’s the sandwich generation”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout her career, in hit comedies like Pulling, Catastrophe and Divorce, Sharon Horgan<\/a> has brilliantly explored the dynamics of relationships. From looking for love, to finally finding it and eventually losing it, the Meath star has covered almost the full spectrum.<\/p>\n

But in her latest HBO series, Youth, Horgan comes at the subject from a new angle. She plays fifty-something literary agent Alex, who\u2019s divorced, single and has a son, Ruair\u00ed, who\u2019s about to head to college. As Alex sets out to find love again, and finds herself entangled with the smarmy Patrick (Homeland\u2019s Rupert Friend), Youth showcases typically brilliant observational comedy, filled with character insight and barbed social commentary.<\/p>\n

For good measure, Horgan also shows her immaculate taste as a music fan, with the soundtrack boasting cuts from the likes of Radiohead<\/a>, LCD Soundsystem<\/a> and Geese<\/a>. Notably, in a prior interview Horgan had done to promote the series, she\u2019d said she had to continue writing Youth while filming. How did that all play out?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was writing it for a year before we started making it,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt\u2019s just that, as you start making it, it continues to evolve. Also, there\u2019s always stuff thrown at you that you\u2019re having to adapt the script for. So I was writing all the way through filming. But the scripts are already written, they\u2019re just being adapted and changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a nightmare because you want to be in the moment, on-set with the actors and prepping for that. Yet, you\u2019re pulled from pillar to post, and that\u2019s before you even start editing. We had to start editing while we were filming \u2013 we only started shooting in February and the show\u2019s going out now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like a massive level of work. But you get used to having to work in that way, you sort of adapt. We\u2019re pretty resilient and you find a way through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Horgan feel middle-age is a perhaps under-explored area in storytelling?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt actually is,\u201d she considers. \u201cI\u2019m only realising that now, just from talking to everyone today. I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, maybe it hasn\u2019t been out there.\u2019 Or certainly, not explored in this way, where it\u2019s the sandwich generation. People are living longer, so our parents are in our lives for longer. And your kids aren\u2019t moving out of home when they\u2019re 18!<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re sticking around, \u2018cos it\u2019s so expensive to go out and find property, it\u2019s out of the question for a lot of them. So you find yourself in your fifties, and your body\u2019s not operating in the same way, but you have all this extra burden. Then you put menopause on top of that, and there\u2019s a lot going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex enjoys wonderful comedic interaction with all of the other characters in Youth, none more so than her moody teenage son, played by Irish newcomer Aran Murphy<\/a>. The son of Oscar winner Cillian Murphy<\/a>, Aran would appear to have a similarly successful trajectory on the horizon, showing his comedic chops in Youth having previously starred in a series of dramas.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sharon Horgan and Aran Murphy in Youth – HBO<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great opportunity,\u201d he says of Youth, in a voice uncannily similar to his father. \u201cSharon is such an icon, and an amazing writer, actor and producer. Working with her was a dream. I hadn\u2019t done much comedy before. I had done a film called Klara And The Sun, which is a really funny film. But doing 30-minute comedy episodes is different gravy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a challenge. Because when you\u2019re around so many funny people, it\u2019s hard to keep up, especially with someone like Sharon who\u2019s so hilarious. I was definitely thrown into the deep end, but it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it an intense shoot?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shot it over four months,\u201d Aran replies. \u201cIt was definitely busy, but the crew and cast were amazing. It was a very open collaboration, so the whole thing was super enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharon described Ruair\u00ed as an 18-year-old who\u2019s just finished school, who\u2019s ready to go out in the world.\u00a0 But he\u2019s not really sure of what he wants to do, and when college doesn\u2019t work out, he\u2019s like, \u2018Uh-oh, what\u2019s gonna happen now?\u2019 I was in a similar position where I had just finished secondary school, so there were a lot of relatable themes. There can be friction in the relationship between him and Alex sometimes, but at its core, it\u2019s really loving.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep down, they both really trust each other, and rely on each other. It\u2019s also a really funny relationship, and Sharon managed to craft it really well. It\u2019s deeply felt but also pretty funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was Aran\u2019s favourite scene to film?<\/p>\n

\u201cI really liked the stuff in episode five in the club, that was really fun,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was weird \u2013 we were in the club in the middle of the day. There were loads of people, lights and just funny stuff to be doing. There were a lot of good scenes in that episode.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did they have to film without music and dub a track in later, as sometimes happens in club scenes?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do playback, so people can get what the level of music would be, and then it cuts,\u201d Aran explains. \u201cYou can just hear shoes squeaking on the floor, and see people miming. It\u2019s weird, and you have to speak at a level you would if there was loud dance music playing. But all that stuff is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another of Alex\u2019s key relationships is with the boss of her literary agency, Sam, played by Sharlene Whyte<\/a>. Did the character come easily to the actor?<\/p>\n

\u201cI jumped right into Sam,\u201d says Whyte. \u201cIt was ridiculous \u2013 it\u2019s like a version of me just turned up, in really expensive clothes and good hair. I did work on her back story, where\u2019s she\u2019s from and her family. But it was so well written that I just had a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Whyte normally like to explore a character\u2019s back story?<\/p>\n

\u201cI do, actually,\u201d she nods. \u201cI needed to know how Sam got into the literary world, and why she was an agent \u2013 there are very few black agents in the country. I think there are three or four. I don\u2019t want to get that incorrect, but it\u2019s not as common as you would probably think. So I made Sam have a background in publishing, maybe her parents were publishers back in the \u201970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were influenced by people in the \u201960s, when you had to publish your own books. The West Indian community set up their own publishing houses to get their work out. That\u2019s a legacy Sam brings to today, which is why she is brave enough to have her own literary agency, and to be one of the few black women in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you discuss the back story with Sharon, or was it more of a mental exercise?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, on this show, it was brilliant,\u201d says Whyte. \u201cWe had rehearsals, so we talked about these things and shared our stories. I spoke to an agent in that world, and to publishers. We spoke about it at great length to make the character authentic, cos that\u2019s what makes it funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was Whyte familiar with Horgan\u2019s work beforehand?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a massive fan,\u201d she enthuses. \u201cI\u2019d watched Pulling, which was us trying to find men. Catastrophe was about getting pregnant. It feels like you\u2019ve grown with this woman, we\u2019ve all had the same experiences. Now you\u2019re in your fifties, and she\u2019s talking about your hormones and being horny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read somewhere that menopause is like the adult puberty. Our hormones are all over the place, we\u2019re just too horny now! We don\u2019t like anything. We\u2019re tall, our boobs are bigger or smaller. We\u2019re wider, we\u2019re skinnier, our body\u2019s changing all the time. I was so excited to see her name in my email.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you see the dynamic between Sam and Alex?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m her best friend and her boss,\u201d says Whyte. \u201cThat dynamic is naturally tricky. Sometimes it\u2019s still friendly and we can be personal, but there are times when Sam is the boss. Hopefully, we can go out, and have a little drink and catch up after that, but there\u2019s got to be boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the question of middle-age being under-explored in TV, Whyte reckons there\u2019s been a bit of a shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more voices now exploring middle-age, and being gorgeous, funny, fit, attractive \u2013 we seem to not be wallflower-ing it anymore,\u201d she proffers. \u201cBut we also can\u2019t be bothered, ‘cos we\u2019re a bit tired. This is why the show is so good, because all that can be explored.\u201d<\/p>\n

If middle-age was previously overlooked, does Horgan think it was because it\u2019s seen as a much less glamorous phase of life?<\/p>\n

\u201cPotentially,\u201d she muses. \u201cBut that\u2019s why it was exciting showing it. I liked my character being out there, looking for love, to say it in a polite way. I enjoyed that, because it\u2019s not like we stop when we get to that age.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might not look as pretty, you might need to find the right angles and lower the lighting, but everyone\u2019s doing it. I thought it was really important to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it happens, I\u2019ve previously met Horgan on a couple of occasions \u2013 at Kilkenny Cat Laughs in 2014; and before that, I interviewed her after a panel discussion on TV comedy in Dublin, where the guests included Succession creator Jesse Armstrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, I curated that,\u201d remembers Horgan. \u201cI brought Nicole Holofcener over as well, and Alice Lowe. Yeah, it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was back in 2010, and in the years since, we\u2019ve seen something of an Irish takeover of Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s absolutely amazing and exciting,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve always had incredible storytellers, it\u2019s just taken a while for the world to notice. Also, so much stuff was being filmed in Ireland anyway because of tax breaks and whatnot. But it was always big American or British productions, or Game Of Thrones or whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see Irish drama and comedy coming out of there, because we have an incredible industry \u2013 we have incredible crews, and the best actors and writers, so it makes sense. Long may it continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Youth\u00a0is streaming now on HBO Max.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout her career, in hit comedies like Pulling, Catastrophe and Divorce, Sharon Horgan has brilliantly explored the dynamics…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-634210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}