The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

"Best of Bristol: Bristol Voices" The Creative Journey of Wonderful Irish Actor & Fellow Tennis Player, Turlough Convery: The 'Big Bear in the Woods' & PhotoBombing Besty of Dame Judi Dench!

• Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian

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What does it take to captivate audiences on both stage and screen? Join us in an engaging conversation with the incredibly talented Irish actor, Turlough Convery, known for his remarkable roles in "Killing Eve," "Sanditon," and "House of Dragons." Turlough shares some of his most memorable experiences, including the sheer thrill and anxiety of performing a monologue in front of acting legends Sir Kenneth Branagh and Dame Judi Dench. From his roots in Ireland to his journey through Bristol, Turlough reveals his unique connections with Dame Judi Dench and recounts his standout performances in "Resident Evil" and as a preacher in "Belfast."

The episode takes a deeply personal turn as we explore Turlough's childhood and the influential figures who've shaped his life. He opens up about the pivotal role his grandmother played during his early years, blending discipline with comfort and teaching him the value of purpose. We reflect on his time at the Guildford School of Acting and the immense impact his acting teacher, Ian Ricketts, had on his artistic growth. Turlough also shares the profound influence and unwavering support of his partner, Frankie, who has been with him for over 14 years, enriching both his personal and professional life.

Rounding out the episode, we delve into Turlough's inspirations and challenges, from his love of Irish mythology and history to his passion for video games like Crusader Kings 3. We laugh over favorite cakes and discuss a cherished quote that offers solace during tough times. Turlough's candid reflections on career setbacks and resilience provide invaluable insights into the world of acting, emphasizing that every experience, whether successful or not, contributes to personal growth. Join us for this heartfelt and humorous conversation that highlights Turlough Convery's creative journey and the importance of legacy.

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)

Thanks for listening!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the Clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, chris Grimes, are you sitting comfortably? Then we shall begin. Get in Another wonderful, seamless introduction to the counterforce, so I don't need to edit it on later. So, yes, welcome to a very special, auspicious day in the Good Listening To show clearing.

Speaker 1:

This is Irish actor Turla Convery, and unbeknownst to me. I had a legend on the tennis courts of Windmill Hill. We played tennis together and I don't know. Just to blow a bit of happy smoke at you, I'll just blow some at me first. Did you know, turla, that I'm the current Windmill Hillbillden champion?

Speaker 2:

I did not know that. Very well done.

Speaker 1:

Because of Windmill Hillbillden. You see what we did there, but you'll be invited to that to try, and you know, remove the crown off the throne, oh, okay, okay, I mean, having seen how you play, I'm not entirely sure that I'd be able to do that.

Speaker 1:

Oh, oh gosh, that's very nice of you to be so nice to me about my tennis. Lovely, it was a lucky draw and it's doubles. Anyway, lardy, blah Enough about me. So very welcome. You are a legend, because as soon as I started researching you after you said yes, I've just returned. It's Resident Evil is the thing you've been working on of late. Is that right, or have I got that wrong? It was very. That was a little bit ago.

Speaker 2:

I'm so bad with keeping on top of any social media stuff, but that's probably one of the most recent things I've posted about Now, the most recent thing that I finished. I'm currently on something, but I can't talk too deeply about that. Yes, you'll have to kill me the kibosh has been done, but the thing that you'd see me currently, you know, standing around in is House of Dragons, so that's the most recent thing that you'd see.

Speaker 1:

I love your accent. Standing around was absolutely gorgeous. So you're an Irish actor. I know you know who you are, but just to blow a bit of happy smoke at you, you played the character Bear in three series of Killing Eve. You played the character bear in three series of killing eve. You were very, very, um, famously arthur parker in sanderton where you trailblazed with the gay romance based on jane austen's final novel. So yes, you, you're a trailblazer and a pioneer and I love the fact you've been in house of dragons. How fantastic tickety-boo. So you're very welcome. How's morale? And obviously you're speaking from Bristol as well. So you're from Ireland originally. Oh, yes, you're. Also, you played a wonderful fire and brimstone preacher in Belfast as well. I'm not. Yes, I saw that clip.

Speaker 1:

Yes, in Belfast yeah, that was a lot that was a brilliant from the pulpit brilliant sort of fire and brimstone from the foot, from the pulpit and that was the first name is yeah, I did that on bbc as well, where I played grunt hair.

Speaker 2:

um, uh, but yes, that one that's belfast. Specifically, that was the first job I shotemic, so it was shot in August of 2020. So we'd come out of lockdown and we were in that tier system and it was, you know, it was certainly back at it. There was no easing back in. It was a two-page monologue in front of Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench and all these ones. So it was like, okay, well, here we go.

Speaker 1:

I've recently had Brendan O'Hay on the show, who co-authored Shakespeare the man who Pays the Rent with Dame Judi Dench, so we have her in common too. I have to say I haven't spouted a two-page monologue at Dame Judi from a pulpit in Belfast. I haven't done that.

Speaker 2:

Well, all of my friends like to take the piss out of me because there's a picture of me where it's meant to be a sort of a shot of Judi Dench at the back of a hall looking at some people dancing. It's one of the last shots of the of the of the show, but, as the consummate actor, as, as anyone knows, you've got to find, you've got to find your way into the shot. So I'm sitting there and I've lent in just enough, so it's like it's a shot of me and me.

Speaker 1:

I love that. So Turner Convy is Dame Judy's main confidant.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, that's what it looks like. So anytime she's mentioned my friends always go. Oh, your best friend, your best friend Judy.

Speaker 1:

I have a very good friend called Chris Bianchi who used to get given a lift with her in the back of her taxi to the tube station after they finished in the Sir Peter Hall Company. Oh, very nice and sorry. Just connections with Dean Judi Dench. I've also had Finty Williams in me clearing as well.

Speaker 2:

Very nice, very nice.

Speaker 1:

So you are very, very welcome. I'm really, really thrilled and happy. Thank you for saying yes, I'm going to curate you through the journey of the show. We're going to have a clearing a tree, a lovely juicy story telling exercise called 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. There'll be some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels, a golden baton and a cake. So it's absolutely all to play for. So first of all, a bit of a googly question How's morale and what's your story of the day?

Speaker 2:

please tell us. Morale is very, is very good. My story of the day has been that it's a nice, relaxing day. I went out for a lovely walk in one of my favorite places in the world Leawoods um, and for a gorgeous walk this morning. Um, uh, I've done some uh bit of artistic, creative stuff that I was needing to work on. And then this evening one of our very good friends is uh graduating uh from her PhD from the University of Bristol, so we're going to go celebrate, celebrate our good friend.

Speaker 1:

And here in Bristol it is a glorious, glorious sunny day. And are you in Wimow Hill? I didn't ask you where you live, Not that I'm going to come around your house.

Speaker 2:

I live in Totterdine.

Speaker 1:

I live essentially a bit closer to the station. I love how you say Totterdine as opposed to Totterdo, which is how in Bristol we say it. It took me about 10 years of living in Bristol to actually nail the accent, and what eventually nailed it was we're going to go get a burger and that sort of thing.

Speaker 2:

That's very good. Yeah, I go to West Country if I end up doing it.

Speaker 1:

People of Bristol yes, so a delight to have you. So let's get you on the open road. Then on the structure of the show. So, tudor Convery, a wonderful Irish actor, what is where is a clearing for you? Where do you go to get clutter-free, inspirational and able to think? Where's your favourite place?

Speaker 2:

Okay, so my favourite place is hilariously it is the woods.

Speaker 2:

It doesn't really matter what wood, as long as there is beautiful trees, there is a bit of dappled sunlight coming through some leaves. That is where I go to in my head whenever I want to relax and whenever I want to get into an imaginative space, but it's also where I physically go whenever I'm feeling a little bit low. I'm feeling a little bit like I need to get back in touch with myself and I think I think there's there's something very there's something very important about woods to me. I think it's the. I think it's the the fact that these big old, solid bits of wood have been here before you and will be here after you, and it means you kind of are able to put things into perspective a bit. If you're going for a walk in the woods, you're like these trees don't give a crap about what's, what's going on with my day. And also whenever I'm in a good mood, there's nothing better than going and you know, and giving my partner my partner's not the biggest fan of it well she is.

Speaker 1:

But uh, I like, I like to give trees like a big slap rather than a bear hug.

Speaker 2:

Because you're carrying a bear hug, I'd go up and give them a big big tap and see how solid they are, um so. So you give them a nice big slap and uh, and and, and you feel how solid that, that, that that wood is, and it helps remind you of the roots that are deep down below, keeping it all together and I'm assuming that's not how you met your childhood sweetheart, francesca you didn't go give her a big slap.

Speaker 1:

No, no no, you met at drama school which was guildhall, wasn't it?

Speaker 2:

in your case, it was it's one of those funny ones. It was gilford school of acting, but um, uh. Many people uh allow the mistake to happen whenever they say guildhall, um, but I like to, I like to correct it.

Speaker 1:

I love your clearing, complete with dappled sunlight, so very, very sort of sondheim into the woods with terla converee. I'm not trying to make it all lovey, but I love the fact actually that there's a very, very sort of Sondheim into the woods with Turla Convery. I'm not trying to make it all lovey, but I love the fact actually that there's a sort of there's history and there's perspective and of all the circa 200 episodes I've done, nobody has specifically said a wood. So I love the fact that everyone always interprets that question differently.

Speaker 2:

Yes, well, it was funny because I was talking with, with, with Frankie at the weekend about this very question and we were walking and and I was like, I was like you know, it might be this, it might be this, and my partner went. Well, it's the woods, that's where you always go, if you're ever going. I'm creatively a bit stuck. You take yourself out for an hour to the woods, two hours, and I could spend an entire day just walking around the woods with my dog and going and looking at various fungi and looking at mosses and going and sniffing things, and yeah, I'm a bit of a.

Speaker 1:

I'm a bit of a woodman like that and the comedian in me has to ask gosh, you play the character called bear. Have you ever taken a shit in the woods I I.

Speaker 2:

I declined to answer that question no comment at this time.

Speaker 1:

You're on it, so we're in the clearing. Then, beautifully, you said it. What I loved about it, it's a generic everyman woods, it's not a specific, it's not lee woods where you were this morning, it's just the woods.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's just the woods, it's, it's, it's where there is trees and where there is light and where there is a moss, that's where and I love that because, obviously, wherever there is trees and where there is light and where there is a moss, and I love that because, obviously, wherever there is a gap, that is a clearing. And I think of my clearing being energetically a bit sort of, you know, midsummer Night's Dreamy it's in the middle of a place like a woods. This is wonderful. Okay, so now I'm going to arrive with a tree. You've already got loads, but there we go, this a bit waiting for goddard-esque and a bit deliberately existential.

Speaker 1:

I'm now going to shake your tree to see which apples fall out. And then this is where you've been kind enough, uh, and thank you for thinking about this beforehand you've had five minutes to have thought about four things that have shaped you, turler, three things that inspire you, two things that never fail to grab your attention, and that's where the oh squirrels will come in. And then the one is a quirky, unusual fact about you. It's not a memory test, so I'll curate you through it. So interpret the shaking of the canopy of your tree as you see fit okay, so first sort of four was that.

Speaker 2:

Is that the four?

Speaker 1:

if you want to go linearly, that's brilliant four things.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, linearly kind of works for me, uh, for me. So, um, it'll most, it'll mostly be I, I, I. I think the first thing that inspired me is my is my grandma on my mom's side um, uh, she, um, both my parents worked, uh, had to work whenever we were growing up and, um, uh, and my grandma ended up essentially taking care of us and looking after us and doing all of the runs to school and doing all the cooking, and she then lived with us from ages uh, seven, whenever I was seven onwards, to till the end of her life. Um, but I, that was all the way through. She um passed away in 2021.

Speaker 2:

Um, uh, um, but grandma was a huge influence on me. Um, I had a, I had a bit of a. I had a very tough time whenever I was about 10 and 10 or 11, um, it was whenever I was just finishing primary school, and lots of stressors. We had this thing in northern ireland which you had over here, but they banned it in the rest of the UK because they realized that it was a slightly failed test, but it was the 11 plus. That was the thing, and I took it just because my birthday landed in March. I was 10 when I took the 11 plus and I think one of the many sort of things which made it not quite work as a test was that which made it not quite work as a test was that, um, but uh.

Speaker 2:

But that was a certain time in my life where I was really struggling and, um, I, I developed ulcers in my stomach, I, I was off school quite a bit and so grandma would look after me, but she, she would look after me in in the kind of perfect way that that you imagine where it would be like I don't really care how sick you are, because we've got chores to do. So if you're at home, you're going to do these chores. So you're going to get this done, we're going to get that done. And we'd always watch Diagnosis, murder and Murder. She Wrote At about two o'clock on ITV or whatever.

Speaker 1:

Angela Lansbury brought you up as well. Angela Lansbury, exactly.

Speaker 2:

Angela Lansbury and. I've forgotten his name, but the very Dick Van Dyke.

Speaker 1:

Oh, two wonderful mentors alongside your grandma. Two wonderful mentors, but that was always a moment where you know it was.

Speaker 2:

She silently understood that there was a reason why I was going, why I was struggling in school was was not just because I was sick. It was. It was. It was I was sick because of this thing.

Speaker 2:

So, she was able to go. Well, if you're here, then you can see how you can be productive in the house and you can see how you can make happiness around you in this space that you call home. And I mean now I have no better days than whenever I'm putting it around the house. You know, doing a bit of cleaning, doing a bit of that, you know taking the dog for a walk, coming back cooking, all that stuff, those are my happiest days. So it kind of it, kind of in a weird way, it prepped me for the freelance life of acting quite well. Now, you know, talk to many of my friends and they'll say I'm not paired for it at all because I'm a nightmare whenever I'm not, whenever I'm doing something of major interest. But you know it prepared me to to be okay being in the house and doing bits and bobs.

Speaker 1:

I love the, the grandma healing whispering of just keeping busy, but healing you through purpose.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, healing you through purpose and healing and through that small purpose, that purpose of saying if you do this, then you'll be able to get the house together, you'll be able to make these certain things. And she was a very, very influential woman on all of us and she was a very, very influential woman on all of us. But she was also a wonderful, wonderful sort of stoic woman from the countryside in Belfast in Northern Ireland. She was brought up in Fermanagh in a tiny, tiny little farmhouse with I think it was eight, nine, maybe 10 brothers and sisters, but moved over as so many people did, moved to Croydon in the 50s to become a midwife and so she was over there. And, yeah, just the strength it also meant whenever I decided to move. There was a sort of a slight lineage and understanding of like, well, you're not going too far because we've been there before, you know, yes, so that would be sort of the first major, major influence on me.

Speaker 1:

So was that part of your childhood when she'd moved away, or are you talking about you having grown up in Croydon then?

Speaker 2:

No, no, no. So I grew up in Belfast, but she, whenever she was younger, she moved in the 1950s to Croydon. Yes, yes, sorry, I've got my timelines confused. No, with my granddad, and he was a construction worker and built a number of the houses in Croydon, and my grandma was a midwife. My mum lived in Croydon for a while.

Speaker 1:

So almost part of the McGee clan. You know there's a big building construction company in London, Exactly yeah.

Speaker 2:

So so, yes, so so that that would be sort of the first person who was, or the first sort of major influence on me, um, that really helped to, to, to construct, begin the construction of who I was and who I am. Um, probably the second, um, the second sort of influence on me would be, uh, and it does sound a, does sound a bit kind of silly, but it would be the writing of Stephen Sondheim, who you did mention earlier on. So I studied musical theatre at Guildford School of Acting and it was only through one day, whenever I was about 15, 16, I'd done a couple of musicals. I was kind of enjoying them.

Speaker 2:

I stumbled across the proms, Stephen Sondheim night, where they were doing some Sweeney Todd, and I my little brain was blown away by this. I didn't understand how this could be musical theatre and how this could be the thing that I really loved doing, and that sort of that sort of that was mad. I was like this is there's something here, there's something here, and so then my love for musicals really, really grew, and that was that's, that's the next sort of massively influential thing. I discovered this thing that I was able to do, that I was able to do really well.

Speaker 1:

Did you know you could sing hitherto, or was?

Speaker 2:

this, yes, yeah, yeah. So I sung a lot. I sang a lot of Irish folk tunes, um, I sung in competitions, I sung in that sort of style. But whenever I was at my um, my um, one of my secondary schools, rockport, um, uh, uh, they, they were doing a musical and they were like you should audition for it. It's a smaller school, so they're like come on, everyone's having a go. And I did it and I find people applauding me and it was really nice and I'm not an academic person, and so it was the first time musicals. And the first musical was guys and dolls um, but musicals. And then Stephen Sondheim was the first time where I was like, oh I, I can do this thing and do this thing. That, that, that that people are valuing.

Speaker 1:

I'm imagining you're a baritone or a bass, just listening to your voice now.

Speaker 2:

But I'm yeah, I'm a high baritone. Actually I used to be, when I was younger, a bit more of a tenor, but time and time in memoriam, has brought me lower down. But so that would be the second thing musicals and the genre of musicals, and seeing that there was an outlet for my creativity that I had not discovered yet really discovered, and so that would be the second thing. That was the sort of a major influence on creating who I am. The third would be a teacher at GSA, and it's an acting teacher and all round wonderful man and he's worked at GSA for probably about 40 years.

Speaker 2:

He's a guy called Ian Ricketts and he is one of the most wonderful and thoughtful and intelligent men I've ever met. He has a warmth and a compassion about him that allowed you to express yourself and not be afraid. And again, I can't tell you all about it because if he's still there, I think he's still there and I think he's still doing it. But there is a thing that happens in first year, which is called the wooden walk, and anyone who has been through GSA has been on this wooden walk and it is done by him and you can't talk too much about it. It's like a fight club, but in a nice way. Fight club but in an eye club. But his understanding and his connection to how nature influences you as a person and how it influences your acting and how you can get solace from this thing.

Speaker 1:

The beauty of how that speaks to your own clearing in the woods as well, is perfect.

Speaker 2:

I think that's one of the many reasons we connected. He actually ended up speaking at mine and Frankie's wedding. Oh, wow, we invited him to do one of the readings at our wedding because he was such a huge influence on both of us. Um, uh, and we went back and whenever we asked him, he took us on this walk again. Uh, just, but not in the same way, but just took us on this walk and talked to us about who we are and what we want to do in this new chapter of our life that we're beginning. And, yes, he's one of the most wonderful men I've had the pleasure to meet. And he's this tiny, tiny, tiny little man. He's the sort of the absolute epitome of what you would imagine. Puck, ah, wow, in the woods as well. Wow, he's a very small. He's in his 80s and he still chops wood every morning because he has taken over this large part of woodland at the back of his house.

Speaker 1:

Oh, he's like a Geppetto carving actors out of the wood. I love that.

Speaker 2:

To look after it, to tend to to it, to take care of it, and, um, and, and he, he has a way of looking at the world that allows you to say, yeah, he was one of the first people that allowed me to see the intelligence that I had in myself. Wow, before I'd never seen that. Before I'd kind of always gone oh, I'm not that smart, but I can do these things that entertain people. But he was one of the first people that went well, look at it this way and allow yourself to look at it this way, and you might find something in that. Yes, and in that process and in the process of working with him, um, uh, twice a week for the, for the entire three years, um, it unlocked. It unlocked something. If, if you're able to, if you're able to give yourself into the process, it unlocks something in you. That, that, that many, many. And it's very funny anytime you speak to pretty much anyone who's been to GSA, they will either ask you about Ian Ricketts, or did you do this in the class or did you do that, and yeah, so he's a very wonderful man.

Speaker 2:

And then the fourth most influential thing in my life thing is not really the right adjective, but the most important and influential person in my life is my partner, frankie.

Speaker 2:

We've been together for 14 years, all throughout well, halfway through first year and then all throughout the rest of our time in GSA and post that. She is the most interesting person I know in every way and has a creative vision and drive and passion that anyone who meets her is floored by. And I had the privilege to be able to stand beside her for as many years as we have and help each other grow, because that's the that's, that's the biggest thing that we find in our, in our journey together. So far was we were like this. This this is the thing that we we are learning how to grow into the adult and into the humans we are, and and it's a privilege to be able to do that with someone, and it's a privilege to be able to do that with someone who you love and respect and is hilarious. And, you know, lightens, brightens every room that she goes into and makes it.

Speaker 1:

You know, makes, makes, makes everyone around her, um, brighter, yeah so human torch or a light bulb is what I was thinking of that, yeah, a human, exactly a human, a human torch shining, shining the way for for for us all to go wonderful and beautiful tribute to her Francesca lovely. And now that's brilliant. That's the four shapeage. So now, three things that inspire you. If there's any overlap, don't worry about that.

Speaker 2:

Three things that inspire you, teller okay, things that inspire me, um, uh, art inspires me a lot. I'm a massive fan of art, so I especially love landscapes, so the works and the first realisation of this was hilariously was also in Ian Ricketts' class. He discussed one of the paintings which I can't remember the name of it, but it's a very famous painting by Turner and it is a painting of a steam train going along a track and the steam train is barely formed and in front of it is a little rabbit and it's going over a river. You see a little boat. It's in the national gallery.

Speaker 2:

But that his paintings, um turner's paintings, were kind of amazing to me because I I went and saw them for the first time whenever I got to drama school and I was beginning to discover myself and I was also then suddenly discovering this artist who went here is the, here is the mold, here is the um, here is the conservative mold that that landscape should be. Yes, you've got the trees, you've got the things, you've got this, but I'm going to put my own stamp on that. I'm going to break that apart. I'm going to make it mist, I'm going to make that wave turn into ghosts coming out of the wave to try and take down the ship. I'm going to make the sun so bright in the center of the piece that it's going to blind the people watching and all of that.

Speaker 2:

Just I kind of. I was really stunned by that Because I was like modern art I've now begun to really understand and love. But whenever I was a bit younger I found that so abstract from me I really struggled to understand where that was coming from. But this I'd seen landscapes, I've seen what a hill looks like. But then how's this person done that with that?

Speaker 2:

yes, that's really interesting and I think his art turned a little key in me that went oh, go and go and have a look at other other bits of art and find, find a way in there and, yeah, and it unlocked just this amazing, amazing feeling inside of me, and art has been very close to me, so it definitely, it definitely inspires me and it makes such sense about how history speaks to you as well because of your being in lots of period pieces, but also the history of the woods.

Speaker 1:

There's something steeped about um legacy and perspective in amongst wood, or the construct of that yeah, I think another thing that inspires me is is is history.

Speaker 2:

I'm it's funny that you mentioned that I was thinking about this, because it's what what I go to, um, whenever I am, whenever I'm wanting to listen to a podcast or whenever I'm wanting to just watch something that I'm like I'm just going to dip into this. Pretty much a lot of the time, it's going to be something to do with history. I'm absolutely fascinated with how cultures were made, with how, um, and again, one of one of the books, uh homo homo, uh, homo sapien, by you, uh, yuval Noah Harry, um, uh, that was a book that I read about five, six, seven years ago, which was again a big inspirational turn for me, because it speaks about the human history and it speaks about how we've come to this place that we are in now, and I find that incredibly interesting. You know, coming from a place that is steeped in a huge amount of very, very recent, very, very tough and hard history, and having been part of the peace generation that had to begin reckoning with all that.

Speaker 2:

There's a very, very funny and very accurate scene or episode in Derry Girls where they go to uh, the equivalent of what we call in Northern Ireland the share centre, which is a place where you go to to do cross community projects whenever you're about 10, 12, 13 years old and you go in with a bunch of a bunch of people from the other side. You're going with a bunch of Protestants or a bunch of Catholics, depending on where you're from, and that's a very generalized term, but it's usually just schools now, so it's a different school from a different neighborhood. You go and you do this thing and it was. It's very funny. You know, in the scene there's all the, there's all the uh, uh differences are all written down and they're this massive, massive list and then the similarities. There's nothing, and that's the joke, you know, but that was a real sort of reality. So I think I picked up history very early because it was so present. It wasn't something that was in the past, that was forgotten about, it was living. The discussions of the Easter Rising in 1916, the discussions of the proclamation of the Irish Republic, the discussions of who all these people were. It was present, it was just, it was stories, as if you were told about oh yeah, you know your nan's gone down the shop. It would be like, oh, you know, patrick Pearce of course did this. And you'd be like, oh, you know, patrick Pierce of course did this. And you'd be like, yeah, okay, who's Patrick Pierce? You go, oh, that's that guy. Okay, yeah, yeah and and sort of so I think I think a love of history came out of that and so I think, I think I think I gain a lot of inspiration and, um, whenever I'm doing any writing or doing any, if I'm doing any painting, I tend to paint landscapes, because I'm not very much more creative than splodging a bit on a canvas and it's not impressive painting.

Speaker 2:

And, uh, my partner, frankie's, just about got me to take some paintings down. It used to be like it used to look like a gallery of just my stuff in this house and then it was eventually like, okay, let's just take a couple of them down, we can leave up a few. And if I'm ever thinking about any storytelling stuff, it usually tends to be well, what could we do with the old Irish gods? What could we do with the Ulster cycle? What could we do with the Tanu Dan, what could we do with this? And it tends to be something in a historical period setting which is fascinating to me. You know, it's probably my second bit of inspiration.

Speaker 2:

Then my third inspiration, um, uh, I'm saying so much stuff now I'm trying to think of what I haven't covered, my sort of my what do you know? What actually my third inspiration is is is my friends. Um, I have a very, very, very close knit group of friends, um, and they are a big inspiration, a huge influence on me. My best friend, ollie, is a writer and he is one of the funniest people that I know, apart from Franks. He might contest that, but has stayed with me on this long, long journey of life and has taught me so much of of of life and and has taught me so much and. And my friendship group, you know, naturally, uh, naturally, if you meet in around the early years of drama school, you become extremely close, um, you're, you're, you're, you're put into extremely intense and in a hard situation very early on, um, that that you just form a form, a, a bond. Now might be a trauma bond, but it's a bond all the same.

Speaker 1:

We've survived, yes.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, so my friends would be, you know, my biggest inspiration.

Speaker 1:

Lovely, you're interpreting this deliciously, thank you. And now the two squirrels of distraction. What are your squirrels? Let's borrow from the film up your monsters of distraction, so one never fails to distract you, irrespective of anything else that's going on for you it's so bad, but I love playing video games.

Speaker 2:

I'm a big video gamer. I I'm an absolute nut for, like video games and I tend to. Actually, if I'm working on a project and I'm away for a long period of time, I'll actually take my my like Xbox, other games, consoles inserted here Also available yeah, I'll usually take my Xbox away with me because it's a really great like, it's a really great de-pressurizer Lovely, yeah, if I've been on a very intense set during the day, if I come back and it's not shoot-em-up I've never really played shoot-em-up games, that's not really my thing. Again, it all begins unraveling at a certain point.

Speaker 2:

One of my favorite games at the minute it's a strategy game called um, crusader kings 3 and it's, it's, it's, it's a massive um, it's a massive uh, essentially map where you play as as a, as a vassal or as a, as as a knight of a realm, and you have to try and through many various things. You have to and it's all just like prompts. It's like kind of like those old school games of like you're in the woods. Do you want to go forward, yes or no? Yes, you've gone forward. You know, it's kind of, but slightly more complicated, and it's and it's and it's kind of it's wonderful you can make empires and it is exactly is that thing of like. I find it quite. I find it sort of I do I see a bit links to my personality and why I get a lot out of it. So I'm like, I'm like I'm literally playing as the, as the laird of of monster.

Speaker 1:

This is amazing the laird of monster. I love that too. That's a great. You can have that monster of distraction.

Speaker 2:

That would be a real instinct. And then probably my second biggest distraction is singing and dancing and listening to music. If there's a great album on it, kind of soundtracks, my life Music we always have the radio on in our house but it's usually it's. If it's not bbc radio 6 music, it's usually just a playlist that we have on spotify where we'll just go. These are the vibes I want today and I'll chuck them on and we discover new music and we listen to it all the time and, uh, we've got it so bad that we've conditioned our dog to not be able to be in silence. The dog listens to the radio at night. We have we have bc radio four on for the dog overnight. So we've got a very intelligent dog, very cultured dog absolutely very up on the shipping forecast opinions about everything.

Speaker 1:

Won't cock his leg up on anything very discerned. And what's the track of the moment that you're loving and? And what's the track of the moment that you're loving and listening to? Um, the track of the?

Speaker 2:

moment is actually um. It's mary wallopers. They're an irish um folk rock band. They're they're doing huge things. They're absolutely amazing.

Speaker 1:

Um called the frost is over oh, I might just drop that into the soundtrack, if I'm allowed.

Speaker 2:

Do so. It's absolutely stunning. We saw them on Paddy's Day in the Bristol O2. They've just played at Glastonbury and they're doing the Green man Festival this summer. I feel like they're PR or something like that. But they're these amazing lads who are doing old school music and they're doing it with traditional things. But it's just they're. They're they're feeling towards giving a good boot in to the, to the, to the higher ups, and it's really punky. They, they feel like that. They, they sort of have inherited, um, uh, the sort of the boge tradition I was gonna say they're sort of. They're sort of have inherited the sort of the boge tradition I was going to say they're sort of, they're sort of the next iteration of that.

Speaker 1:

And say the name again. They're called Mary Droppers, did you say?

Speaker 2:

The Mary Wallopers. Mary Wallopers, I'm glad I asked it's named after a boat that was from the was from the fair, from the, the, the, the, the little port that they came from there was the Mary Wallaber.

Speaker 1:

And the track again. What's the name of the track?

Speaker 2:

The Frost Is Over.

Speaker 1:

Lovely. And now a quirky or unusual fact about you. We couldn't possibly know about you, Tala Conbury, the Irish actor, until you tell us.

Speaker 2:

So I was trying to really think of this and then it kind of came to me and I've been trying to slightly hide it. So, um, my friends and my family, but not very many other people, know that I'm heavily dyslexic, so I so I really really struggle with reading. Um, writing's not too bad, but reading I really really struggle with. It takes me a long time. But again, for some odd quirk of my brain, um, plays and learning lines have never been a problem. Wow, yes, it's novels.

Speaker 2:

I, I, I really struggle to read fiction. Yes, and I asked, I asked, I asked sort of um you know, uh, asked I asked, I asked sort of um, you know, uh, psychologists about this, and people who study the brain, like, what is the what? What is the reason behind specifically fiction? Because I can read and I love reading, but I read mostly non-fiction, yeah, so so the book I've just finished now is Say Nothing by Patrick Braddon Keefe, which is a brilliant, brilliant book. If you haven't read it all about Northern Irish history and anything by, like, john Ronson. I'm a big fan of John Ronson's stuff. Obviously, they're all factual, but for some reason I can do factual, I think, because I can pick it up and put it down.

Speaker 1:

But I love the happy twist of irony that you can do storytelling, which is often fiction, when you pick up a play.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so whenever I asked psychotherapists about this and such, they postulate that a big part of the understanding of how to read is three different things. I can't remember all of them, but it's essentially recognising words, it's understanding what those words are and then putting meaning into those words and attaching pictures.

Speaker 2:

So it's thinking in pictures, yeah, and so I just don't have one of them. I can understand and I can imagine those worlds and I can imagine and I can make the. I can emote very well, yes, but I can't read very well, and so it would always get me in trouble at school because and it was only until they discovered that I was dyslexic because the teachers would just think I was taking the piss because I would be making up sentences, I'd be reading something and I would stick in words that aren't there. And I would, I would just make up a different part of the sentence, but I'd be saying it so confidently that they would be going. Well, he's clearly, he's clearly very confident and he's just making, he's just wanting to make everyone laugh. I would be going. I don't know what I'm doing, I'm obviously putting across a very confident thing.

Speaker 2:

Yes, because you said this is alice in wonderland, this is the cheshire cat speaking. I can go. Yeah, I know what the cheshire cat is, the one with the big smile. Okay, yeah, yeah, okay, I mean, I'd be reading it, I'd be going. You're putting in words here, there and everywhere. Say what's on the page, and I'd be going. I am saying what's on the page.

Speaker 1:

So, yes, so, so so, yeah, that means you'll also be a great improviser, I don't doubt, and and in bristol I run instant whip, the comedy improvisation company and that that's an ability to be able to riff on a theme, isn't it, which is powerful, particularly for devising in theatre as well, as I know, you know, and I'm sure, you're a rich asset to a company for that type of approach too.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it helps me a lot. I think yeah.

Speaker 1:

We have shaken your tree gloriously thanks to that, and now we stay in the clearing, move away from the tree and next we're going to talk about alchemy and gold.

Speaker 2:

so when you're at purpose and in flow to the convoy, what are you absolutely happiest doing in what you're here to reveal to the world? Uh, I am happiest. I'm happiest acting. I am happiest acting um, uh, I love that I've had the opportunity to do that as much as I have and do it in productions with great actors.

Speaker 2:

But there's very few times that I am as fulfilled as whenever I have finished a day on set and I feel like the work that I've put in running up to it, the preparation, if it's paid off and that day has been seized and we've got the scene and I've been very happy with it and happy with what I've done, that is whenever I feel most fulfilled in my work life, in my personal life. Whenever I'm most fulfilled is, quite honestly, yesterday I went for a lovely walk with my partner in Leawoods. Again, we drove over there and then we came back and we had Pimms in the garden and tried to name as many countries whilst watching the Olympics, and that is also whenever I'm at my most happiest and feeling most fulfilled in this world. So it's kind of if and when those two can link, it feels wonderful.

Speaker 1:

The wonderful capacity to work hard and play hard sounds fantastic and makes complete sense. Love that, and now I'm going to award you with a cake turler. So do you like cake? First of all, I do like cake and what cake would you like? Tragically well, I live close enough to deliver a cake, I know that. But um, what type of cake would you like?

Speaker 2:

don't promise me anything. Um, uh, do you know what I will go for? A lemon drizzle cake, oh nice that could be possible.

Speaker 1:

Maybe I'll come around your house for the cake we had.

Speaker 2:

We had at our wedding. We had, um, we were very, very fortunate. Frankie's um, nana, um, uh, paid for our cake. She wasn't able to attend the wedding, but she really, really, really wanted to pay for the cake. And we kept saying, but we really, really, really want to use that money to pay for all the rest of the stuff and we're not that bothered by cake. But no, we really, really, really want to use that money to pay for all the rest of the stuff and we're not that bothered by cake. But no, we really, really, really had to have a nice cake and so we end up getting three tiers. We had a regular birthday kind of style cake, because that's what we love. We had the chocolate fudge cake because Frankie loves that and I love that as well, but then we both. But I absolutely love lemon drizzle.

Speaker 1:

I like the fact you liked all three layers. So nom nom, nom through the three layers. It was quite an easy decision. So now you get to put a cherry on the cake, which is the whole reason I'm wibbling on about cake. And this is stuff now like what's the favourite inspirational quote, taylor, that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future.

Speaker 2:

So I don't know if it's necessarily inspirational. Um, so I don't know if it's necessarily inspirational, but it's a quote that, um, I use pretty much daily.

Speaker 2:

Um, uh, well, maybe not daily, but but certainly it's, it's, it's and it's used a lot, but it's, this too shall pass I love that stoic true, yes that's the thing, and, and I only I, only because whenever I, again, whenever I, whenever I went to, whenever I was discussing this in frank, so I was like, I was like it's that right, I use that all the time. That's the thing. And and rightfully, um, I was pointed to make sure and check that it was not said by someone.

Speaker 1:

Terrible, uh it's biblical or stoic, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

it's apparently it's a king solomon uh set out to, to to create the best, the most complete sentence ever, which is not. This too shall pass. That's a derivation of what it originally was, which it originally was um uh, this too shall pass. This too shall pass. This too shall pass on. So the idea of this too shall die as well.

Speaker 1:

So he needed a good editor. Is what we're saying?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, that's the absolute certainty of that sentence. But, yes, this too shall pass. Always helps me whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed, whenever I'm feeling, but also whenever I'm feeling, but also whenever I'm feeling overly elated, present, you know if, if I'm feeling overly oh my god, this is amazing going. Okay, this too shall pass this feeling. So I have to understand it and be in it, here and be right now, because this will pass. This is not going to stay forever. I'm not going to live my life at this peak. It's going to be trough. So you have to live with that and allow that to live within you.

Speaker 1:

Boom. What notes, help or advice might you proffer to a younger version of yourself?

Speaker 2:

try to learn at an early enough stage that comparisons don't bring you anywhere. They're only designed to hold you back. That's it. That'll probably be. And he would say you know, f off and I would go, but please listen to me because I'm your older self. It would be really helpful if you figured this out now, because I have to live with it now. And please figure it out, that's probably what Lovely, lovely.

Speaker 1:

So now we're ramping up shortly for the final bit, which is about Shakespeare and legacy. But just before we get there, this is the pass. The golden baton moment, please. So now, golden baton moment, please. So now you've experienced this from within and thank you sincerely for saying yes, it's been a delight and a joy. But who would you most like to pass the golden baton along to, to keep the golden thread of the storytelling going?

Speaker 2:

oh, very good. Um, do you know what? He's an old friend of mine who I met on paul dark. Um, he's a guy called tom york. I'm not of radiohead I would love to say that I knew the guy, but Tom York is a wonderful, wonderful actor and a very, very interesting man and he's just set off on a new journey into audio erotica, where he has developed this huge big fan base where he reads erotic fiction and he's extremely popular.

Speaker 1:

I was going to say this podcast is all about.

Speaker 2:

It helps that he's a stunningly attractive man, but with a beautiful voice.

Speaker 1:

Lovely. So that's fascinating and intriguing. And, of course, I don't think of this show being auto erotica, but you never know, we could be browsing millions of people as we spout. That's a great answer. So, tom, your mission should you just accept it is to furnish me with a warm introduction. Thank you very much indeed. And now, inspired by Shakespeare and all the world's a stage, and all the better. We've been merely players. We're going to talk about legacy now, taylor, when all is said and done, how would you most like to be remembered?

Speaker 2:

I'd most like to be remembered by the people I love as a warm, friendly and kind person that they could turn to whenever they needed to. I think that's Because I struggle with huge beliefs. I come from a very, very religious family and they are still very religious and that's wonderful. Their faith is very beautiful and very deep to them.

Speaker 1:

My presumption, that's the Catholic side, faith is very beautiful and very deep to them. My presumption that's the Catholic side of the divide rather than the Protestant side.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so my grandma was a hugely, hugely devout Catholic. My mum and dad are extremely true and deep in their faith. I've struggled with it in my own life. But the one thing that helps me think is that the way in which I remember people is the way in which I think they live on. It's the way in which you make a cup of tea, a specific way, because that's how grandma made it. That's how that person lives on.

Speaker 2:

So, hilariously, thinking about Shakespeare, my grandma learnt by rote at a very, very young age because she had to perform it on stage and she hated performing, she hated the spotlight, but she had to learn a pound of flesh from from Merchant of Venice, like a pound of flesh dropeth from the place above and blah, blah, blah and drop of mercy, and she would perform that at our little gatherings, our little family gatherings and and so anytime I hear the merchant of venice mentioned, I think of my grandma and I think that's how. That's how, in my mind, a person lives on beyond their time is in how they have interacted with you and, and I hope to interact with enough people that they make terrible cups of tea like I do, lovely.

Speaker 1:

I'm just going to go to preserve your legacy. So now I was just about to say one thing and then change my mind. Now it's. Where can we find out all about Turlough Convery on the old internet? Please Type in my name.

Speaker 2:

Just spell it for those that are listening yes, spell it it's t-u-r-l-o-u-g-h, c-o-n for november, v for victor. E-r-y, lovely jubbly e-r-y, you can tell.

Speaker 1:

That's how I've had to do it with my accent for many years what a delicious accent you have, sir, as this has been your moment in the sunshine Turle, convery of the Good, listening To Show stories of distinction and genius, is there anything else you'd like to say?

Speaker 2:

No, just thank you very much. I look forward to playing you in tennis.

Speaker 1:

Boom, the Wimble, himble Beholden. Champion Be guarded. So thank you very much indeed for watching too. If you'd like to be in the show too, get in touch. Care of the new website, which is thegoodlisteningtoshowcom. And this has been Turle Convery. What an awesome pants he is. And good night.

Speaker 1:

You've been listening to the Good Listening To Show with me, chris Grimes. If you'd like to be in the show too, or indeed gift an episode to capture the story of someone else with me as your host, then you can find out how care of the series strands at the goodlisteningtoshowcom website. If you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, please do so, and if you'd like to have some coaching with me, care of my personal impact game changer program then you can contact me, and also about the show at chris at secondcurveuk On X and Instagram. It's at that, chris grimes. Tune in next week for more stories from the clearing and don't forget to subscribe and review wherever you get your podcasts. So irish hector, uh, taylor converee, you've just been given a damn good listening to in this structure. Could I just get your immediate feedback on what it felt like to be in this structure? How was it for?

Speaker 2:

you. It's absolutely wonderful. It's a very, very interesting way to do a podcast. I haven't really heard of podcasts that do that. I'm used to the kind of rambly ones, which can be a lot of fun, but I think there's something very interesting about the structure. It forces you to try to be as clear as you can about yourself.

Speaker 1:

And that's a hard thing. But enjoy it and sincerely thank you for thinking so deeply about each aspect of it. I was very chuffed with how much you'd obviously been thinking about it and ruminating before you came to the clearing, which I loved very much. Thank you. Just one other question Is your wonderful drama teacher still with us, ian Ricketts? Ian Ricketts.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I believe he is still with us. I believe he is still with us. He lives in Godalming, but whether he's still teaching, I don't know.

Speaker 1:

At the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School where I went, we had wonderful people like Nat Brenner, who's similarly ancient as to what Ian Brickett sounds like, and also Rudy Shelley. So these people that were literally one of a kind who people never forgot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he is definitely off that ilk. Yeah, he's a wonderful, wonderful man Are you still in touch with him.

Speaker 1:

That was such a lovely, warm testament.

Speaker 2:

Do you know we are every so often in touch via letter. He likes to write, so he'll write a letter every so often, but we haven't been in touch as much as I would like.

Speaker 1:

Because I'm slightly intrigued and fascinated by him. How old is he now? Because what I was going to fish for was whether or not you've given such a warm testament. I think it would be lovely for him to hear this episode. Someone, oh yes, um do you know?

Speaker 2:

um, I'm sure, I'm sure he has internet. I'm not. I'm not entirely convinced. I think he uses his like. I think he uses his like. I think he uses the internet at the school. But I would be surprised. If he's got, he should have it, he should have it. He's got an axe at home because he's busy. Yeah, at the very least his wife Cecilia will have it. But yes, certainly I'll fish that out and I'll see if I've got any information for him.

Speaker 1:

Oh, and final question Thank you for that. Do you mind saying one more? Did you get the job at the Donmar that you were going up for on Friday? Sadly not. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you. I was hoping it'd all be good news.

Speaker 2:

No, sadly not. But you know that's all part of life.

Speaker 1:

It's the opportunities that come, as you said yourself, and this too shall pass.

Speaker 2:

There'll be highs, lows, lows highs Hashtag. Awkward, sorry, I asked that question no no, no, no, no, don't worry, Don't worry. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience and Tim the director was absolutely amazing. No-transcript.