IT ALMOST goes without saying that Paul Mescal is a name that will continue to intrigue, inspire and generate tête-à-têtes. His performance as the endearing Connell Waldron, lead character of acclaimed novel and BBC TV series, Normal People, has sparked widespread recognition.
Based on Sally Rooney’s eponymous novel, Normal People, the plot centres around a relationship between two young people that evolves from adolescence through to university, as the couple try to understand themselves, each other and the world they seem to inhabit so intimately.
Speaking to the 24-year-old actor from Maynooth, Ireland, in the middle of the lockdown, his unassuming charm is evident, despite the crackling tone and occasional delay of the phone call.Mescal seems relaxed as we exchange greetings, suggesting, not surprisingly, he has done this many times before. The now in-demand actor, who trained at the Lir Academy in Dublin, began his career on stage in a production of The Great Gatsby.
The shift from stage to screen is not as significant as we might expect, he says. “I’ve never been a big advocate of the two things being drastically different. Of course, they are different in terms of style, but I think ultimately when I watch good actors on stage and good actors on screen, they’re doing the same thing, and vice-versa.”
Paul Mescal. Photograph: Nick Thompson
Paul Mescal. Photograph: Nick Thompson
Earlier this year, Mescal was offered the role of Mad Padraic in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, written by Martin McDonagh – a playwright we both admire. “He’s so fun to do. He’s really hard to do as well because he demands a lot.”
The difference between high-energy Mad Padraic and the laconic Connell is noteworthy, and when considering the two, Mescal admits, “It requires a lot of energy to play someone low-energy for long periods of time.” Readers might be more familiar with his portrayal of Connell, even if it’s only as a result of his chain-wearing and undemanding softness – an image of contemporary masculinity that the internet rapidly caught hold of.
Mescal recently raffled one of his personal chains in order to raise funds for Pieta, a charity preventing suicide and self-harm. At the time of writing, it has raised more than £36,000.Delving into the complexities of presenting mental illness on-screen, I tell him that the stand-out performance, for me, is Connell’s conversation with a counsellor. “Well, first of all, thanks for saying that,” he responds. “I think, for me, that was the part that I was most nervous about.” He discusses the obligation he felt to portray Connell’s depression as accurately as possible.
“As an actor, you don’t have to live through all of the characters’ experiences … you get to kind of jump in and out at various intervals in their lives.” He adds, “But to play someone like Connell, who’s actively going through severe depression and suicidal thoughts … there’s a massive responsibility towards that because a) I love Connell, and b) Connell is representing a reality for a lot of people in the world, and a lot of people that I know.”
To capture Connell’s psychological turmoil with balanced authenticity and unquestioned richness is a feat that gestures to Mescal’s acting prowess. Nevertheless, to make scenes like that happen requires multiple pairs of hands and Rooney’s narrative is central to the series’ architecture.
“I was a massive fan of the book before we even started filming, and I felt a massive relief, obviously, when I saw the script,” he says. Rooney’s involvement with the screen adaptation was central to the two’s similarities and Mescal praises the “amazing, amazing” screenwriters Alice Birch and Mark O’Rowe. “I felt like there were no safer hands I could be in than the author herself and somebody like Alice.”
Paul Mescal, Photograph: Nick Thompson
In terms of the adaptation, Mescal remarks, “The book was treated with the utmost care.” He expands, “Lenny Abrahamson, the director, has a great track-record with book adaptations.” Abrahamson is well-known for his powerful retelling of Emma Donoghue’s novel, Room, and Mescal emphasises that the director works very closely with writers. “I think there’s a really strong understanding of the…” – he pauses – “emotional centre of a book, but [Abrahamson] also knows … the filmic rules that need to be transposed on to it to make it really work.”
When I ask him whether there are any books he would love to see adapted to screen, he says: “I’d love to see [Delia Owens’s] Where the Crawdads Singadapted. [Patti Smith’s] Just Kidswould be an amazing adaptation, I think.” Mescal’s book choices are revealing – choosing both fiction and memoir exemplifies his curiosity for stories, both real and imaginary.
While the opportunity to play Connell epitomises a high point in his career, Mescal has more to say about the challenges of acting. “There’s always, like, a low-level anxiety associated with being an actor, because you always feel, like, you want to be doing … better. D’you know? There’s no ceiling when it comes to acting, because there’s always somebody doing what you want to do, or there’s always a project that you really want to do.”
He shares with me a time he met up for coffee with his friend and actor, Marty Rea, who played alongside him in The Great Gatsby. Both have experienced the ubiquitous intensity of a life that orbits the next performance – especially for Rea, who worked full-time in theatre for three years.
Paul Mescal, Photograph: Nick Thompson
Paul Mescal, Photograph: Nick Thompson
Paul Mescal, Photograph: Nick Thompson
“The minute you come off a play, your body starts the, kind of, ‘anxiety clock’ ‘til the curtain goes up at 7.30pm the next evening, and to go through that for three years, in that constant state of nervousness, is tricky. It’s a really hard balance to strike.” When asked about undisclosed future projects, Mescal remains steadfastly optimistic and, although he can’t share details with us, I assure him that if he’s excited, we’re excited.
“Hopefully,” he laughs. This will be an extraordinary time for someone whose career is flourishing against the restrictive and unpredictable ramifications of Covid-19. “Yeah it’s tricky, I suppose, because all I want to do is be able to work, and this is the longest I haven’t worked since I graduated, and when that’s kind of imposed on you – rather than you just not getting work – is a difficult thing.”
In an indirect way, however, this sense of job instability is something that Mescal experienced growing up. “My age demographic grew up in the recession – which, like, was obviously kind of shit – but it gave us the option to go, like, look – no job is permanent, no matter how good it is, so therefore you may as well do something that you really love.” Mescal’s unpretentious sense of his own dreams comes through in pauses, as he searches for the most authentic way of expressing how he feels.
Ultimately, he wants to resume doing what he does best. “I think a lot of us are really struggling with not being able to do the things that we’ve sacrificed a lot to do.” Like many of us, he also misses the physical presence of his family and friends. “It’s been weird moving away from family during this.”
Paul Mescal, Photograph: Nick Thompson
Paul Mescal, Photograph: Nick Thompson
Bringing the conversation full circle, I ask Mescal what the word “shine” – the theme of this issue – means to him. “Shine?” he replies. “That’s S-H-I-N-E? I suppose the main thing that I get from it is that it’s a positive thing, a really positive force … it’s something that is potentially infectious in others.”
Bringing awareness back to the pleasant conditions of early summer, he finally settles on his own interpretation, “The sun shines in the world and makes everybody happy … people can radiate this kind of positivity and that’s something we all need at the moment”
by Alice Hill-Woods
First published in the Summer 2020 issue of Glass – Shine
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Photographer NICK THOMPSON @nickthompsonstudio
Fashion Director KATIE FELSTEAD @katiefelstead
All grooming advised by EMMA WHITE TURLE at THE WALL GROUP using Boy de CHANEL and Bleu de CHANEL 2-In-1 Moisturiser @ewtmakeup
Production ALEXANDRA OLEY at NICK THOMPSON STUDIO @alexandra_georgette_oley
Talent PAUL MESCAL @paulmescal