Over a career that spans five decades, celebrated actor and activist Stephen Rea has proved a versatile, prolific and mercurial talent, and – though he may be too modest to accept the complement - one of Ireland's great movie stars.
Across a formidable body of work that encompasses theatre, film and television, Rea has entertained audiences in a variety of roles ranging from the whimsical to the villainous, each character informed by the performer’s innate humanity.
The actor’s work and life is the subject of a tribute at Scéal Eile, an Irish Film Festival taking place in Belgium between March 21st and 25th. As part of wider themed selection of films that reflect a wealth of filmmaking from both sides of the border, Rea as a guest of honour is well chosen.
Born in Belfast in 1946, Stephen Rea initially came to prominence in the 1970s as a stage actor of note, training with Ireland’s National Theatre, the Abbey, and collaborating with a number of major playwrights, among them Sam Shepard, Trevor Griffiths and Brian Friel, which whom he co-founded the Field Day theatre company, a cultural force in Irish life that remains active to this day.
On the big screen, Rea’s collaboration with writer and director Neil Jordan has lasted eleven movies and a variety of eclectic roles to date, from lovelorn IRA member (an Oscar nominated performance in Jordan’s celebrated The Crying Game) to cuckolded husband (The End Of The Affair), louche bloodsucker (Interview With The Vampire) and a dual role as drunken father and mentally disturbed son (The Butcher Boy). It’s an ongoing creative partnership that has resulted in any number of modern screen classics, from The Company Of Wolves to Michael Collins and beyond.
The man's contribution to cinema alone covers every imaginable genre, from collaborations with auteurs like Mike Leigh and Robert Altman to Hollywood blockbusters (V For Vendetta and the Underworld series) and cult gems (track down Stuart Gordon’s Stuck and Vincent Ward’s River Queen), all the while offering constant support for emerging Irish filmmakers.
Scéal Eile's smart three-film salute revisits Neil Jordan and Stephen Rea’s first collaboration, Jordan’s filmmaking debut Angel (1982) , with Rea as a jazz musician turned unlikely angel of vengeance, a tragic and beautiful portrait of the futility of violence that remains more relevant than ever.
Their second pick is a more unusual one for a film festival, but essential none the less. David Ireland's Cyprus Avenue is a theatre play filmed by the BBC. The actor won the Irish Times Theatre Award in 2016 for his virtuoso performance in this blackly comedic examination of sectarian hated with Rea as a deluded Belfast loyalist who begins to mistake his five-week-old granddaughter for Irish Republican leader Gerry Adams. It’s a piece that captures Rea at the height of his powers.
The third film selected in this tribute is Brazilian filmmaker Aurélio Michiles' timely documentary Secrets From Putumayo (2020) , which explores the legacy of Irish humanitarian Roger Casement (1864–1916) and his work exposing the abuse of indigenous communities in Brazil. Based on Casement's own journals, Rea gives voice to Casement’s pioneering investigation into human rights abuses, slave labour and the systematic exploitation of the Amazon's indigenous peoples.
Whether leading the cast or essaying a quick cameo, Stephen Rea remains a singular presence, one as in-demand as ever, winning a British Academy (BAFTA) award in 2015 for Hugo Blick's acclaimed TV mini-series An Honourable Woman, and reuniting with Blick for a role alongside Emily Blunt in his recent BBC western The English.
Watch: Stephen Rea on the war between art and the "bourgeois lifestyle"
While it is nigh upon impossible to summarise such an eclectic and storied career with a brief selection of 'finest works’, the festival have made some well-considered (and adventurous) choices, showcasing Rea at his best. What's more, the man himself will be present at Scéal Eile to discuss his life and works.
The Scéal Eile festival runs from Tuesday 21st to Saturday 25th March across cinemas in Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp - find out more here.
