She's already impressed with her turn in comedy drama The Dry and is set to star in new Netflix series Bodkin, but this week Dublin actress Siobhan Cullen proves her charming graveside manner in new black comedy Obituary.
She plays Elvira Clancy, a young obituarist in a newspaper in the fictional smalltown of Kilraven who has to take drastic measures when the locals aren’t dying quick enough. Cutbacks also start biting and her editor can’t afford to pay her a regular wage.
Always fascinated by death and the dark side, Elvira starts bumping off the town’s unpleasant residents in increasingly inventive ways so she can pen their obituaries and keep herself in black clothes and kohl. You could say death becomes her.
Obituary is very quirky and very macabre. Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, 33-year-old Cullen says, "When I first read the script, what struck me was that there was nothing I could compare it to. It just felt very unique. That’s what I found appealing - it’s a bit dark and twisted but also a lot of humour and light as well."
The pale and interesting Elvira really is the prim reaper. Only two things bring her joy: writing and death but she’s also very vulnerable and very human. In fact, she may not even be the strangest person in Kilraven.
"It’s funny because in her town, she’s seen as the oddball, the weirdo but the characters that make up the town are some of the wildest and weirdest you’ll meet," says Cullen. "So, she’s quite relatable to the audience because she is quiet human but in this town of freaks and oddballs, she does stand out."
Not that the actress hung about in graveyards when she was growing up in Rathfarnham. "You know what, that’s only come in later life," she jokes.
Cullen made her acting debut at just eight years old when she was cast as Josie Kilbride in Marina Carr's By the Bog of Cats at the Abbey Theatre. In 2001, her feature film debut was The Crooked Mile, followed by another Abbey Theatre role in Ariel.
She made her television debut as Kristen in the fifth season of the RTÉ One medical drama The Clinic in 2007. Since then, there have been plenty of film and television roles.
It was her parents who can take the credit for her catching the acting bug. "I think so. They are definitely fans of acting," Cullen says. "They’re in the local drama group and they’re very active in it. I would always tag along to their rehearsals. I’d have to give them a lot of credit for sure, they fuelled that spark in me whereas other parents might say stay well away."
Obituary was filmed in Ballyshannon and Bundoran but Kilraven may have more in common with another fictional town - the sleepy hamlet of Midsomer, where the locals keep joining the choir immortal week in, week out.
So, murder is very much Elvira’s muse and of course the Irish have a very particular relationship with death.
"It’s funny, I think we do it quite well in Ireland," says Cullen. "There is something lovely about an Irish wake, about laying a person out in their home and being able to welcome visitors to in to pay their last respects and it’s often a celebration. It’s one of the few things we get right!"
Elvira lives with her very protective father, Ward, who is sinking into alcoholism as he continues to grieve his late wife, who died while giving birth to their only child. He is also still sorrowful about Elvira’s unhappy childhood.
He’s played by the great Michael Smiley, the talented character actor who has a very long CV and even popped up in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
"He’s a very funny man and an excellent person to have on set with you and he is also a fantastic and generous and kind actor," Cullen says.
"He’s an absolute dream to work with and I’m a massive fan so I was over the moon to have so much time with him. Even though the subject matter of this show is quite dark and quite heavy there are plenty of laughs."
There was also another Obituary co-star whom she already knew very well. In the series, Elvira’s best mate Mallory is played by her real-life friend Danielle Galligan. They actually went to the same school and drama classes together and then both ended up studying in Trinity College.
"I’ve known her a long time so it was really gorgeous to have your actual pal play your best mate and they are such totally different characters," Cullen says. "Chalk and cheese . . . and they’re most themselves in the scenes they have together. A total joy."
She is also back as Caroline Sheridan in the second series of The Dry, the RTÉ comedy drama about a young woman who returns to Dublin after years of partying in London, sober and full of good intentions.
And like our relationship with death, our views on the drink are also quite unique "Yeah, you could say that for sure," says Cullen. "That’s the appeal of The Dry. It examines the very problematic relationship Irish people have with drink, it’s not just Irish people, but it is something we are familiar with.
"The Dry interrogates it in a serious way but it again with tongue in cheek humour. Which again is very Irish or maybe just human but it’s certainly a method of coping with the darker stuff we go through. I love The Dry and the writing is just amazing."
Cullen is keeping busy. Last year, she also wrapped filming on Bodkin, which was produced by the Obamas’ production company and shot in West Cork.
She plays a character called Dove. "Bodkin is about a group of podcasters who go to west Cork to study a cold case that happened twenty years ago and they end up unearthing a hell of a lot more than planned. It’s a load of fun with an incredible cast and hopefully it will be on Netflix next year."
Alan Corr @CorrAlan2
Obituary begins this Tuesday on RTÉ One at 10.15pm with all episodes available to watch on the RTÉ Player afterwards.
