Soldier's love in Baile Beag

Love knows no boundaries. TONY LELIW speaks to actor Jonathan Wrather about a play which explores both heart and mind

An Englishman in a predominantly Irish cast

Jonathan Wrather assures me that he doesn't always play men in uniform.

He is currently rehearsing for Translations, a play by Brian Friel, which opens at the Palace Theatre Watford tomorrow, where he takes on the role of a young British officer, sent to County Donegal in 1833, to make an ordnance survey map of the area.

'I'm not always playing military men,' says the 31-year-old RADA-trained actor. 'When I left drama school the first roles I had were of young tormented artists.'

But despite the explanation, it's no secret that he put in an appearance in the television series Soldier Soldier as a lieutenant, and at the Watermill Theatre, was cast as Sergeant Troy in Far From The Madding Crowd.

And Jonathan also lets slip that while at public school in Cumbria, he was drafted into the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) where he did regular target training with a full bore rifle.

The role in Translations is about a young English soldier arriving in the small Irish community of Baile Beag, where everybody speaks Gaelic.

His job is to translate local place names into English. And while he is there, he falls in love with an Irish girl called Maire, played by Annie Farr.

The play centres on what effect this relationship has on the two of them and how it is viewed by the community.

'There are lots of messages on the human level,' says Jonathan, who was born in Chelford near Macclesfield.

'It's about absolution, tolerance and love crossing all borders ,, about an outsider coming in.

'When you scratch the surface of the play it brings up so many things.'

Despite being one of only two Englishmen in the play ,, the other being Graham Seed (known to Archers fans as Nigel Pargetter), playing the character Captain Lancey ,, the cast is practically all Irish.

That doesn't create any problems for this Englishman, who once spent his New Year in Ireland with an Irish girl and found the people utterly charming.

To put you in the mood, in the play, he has to say these immortal words: 'I would so like to tell you how beautiful you are. I want to live with you ,, anywhere ,, anywhere ,, anywhere at all ,, always ,, always.'

The chatty south Londoner doesn't view the play as political, though the cast did talk about the period it was set in, a few years prior to the onset of the Irish famine. Jonathan also went down to the Military Museum in Chelsea to get some books on the subject.

'My character does not want to be in the army, he distances himself from it,' so he didn't feel that the soldier research had to be too extensive.

'He [the character] is trying to be this complex human being, absorbing everything Irish as if it is like a breath of fresh air. He is the antithesis of his father, hopping from one end of the empire to the other.'

For Jonathan, this is not his first Irish play, and no doubt, it will not be the last time we see him in uniform.

æTranslations by Brian Friel is playing at the Palace Theatre Watford in Clarendon Road.

The play runs from April 14 to May 6. For box office details call 01923 225671.

æYou can win two tickets to Translations for Tuesday, April 25 by answering one simple question: In which Irish county is the play set in?

Put your answer on a postcard and send it to: Translations Competition, Times Series Newspapers, 71 Church Road, Hendon, London NW4 4DN. Competition deadline is Tuesday, April 18. No multiple entries. Normal competition rules apply.