![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Breffni-Holahan_OPT-300x199.jpg\")
Breffni in rehearsals. Rehearsal pictures by Alex Brenner.<\/p>\n Breffni in rehearsals. Rehearsal pictures by Alex Brenner.<\/p>\n
Breffni Holahan told David Hennessy about being part of a new adaptation of Virginia Woolf\u2019s The Waves at Jermyn Street Theatre.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jermyn Street Theatre is presenting Flora Wilson Brown\u2019s adaptation of Virginia Woolf\u2019s literary classic The Waves.<\/p>\n Cabinteely actress Breffni Holahan plays Susan.<\/p>\n J\u00falia Levai directs the cast that is completed by Archie Backhouse as Louis, Pedro Leandro as Neville, Syakira Moeladi as Jinny, Tom Varey as Bernard, and Ria Zmitrowicz as Rhoda.<\/p>\n The Waves follows six friends from childhood to adulthood in a story about about growing up together.<\/p>\n Virginia Woolf was one of the most influential modernist writers of the 20th century.<\/p>\n The Waves is regarded as a landmark of literary modernism, notable for its experimental structure departing from traditional narrative form. Her major other works include The Voyage Out, Night and Day, Jacob\u2019s Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, A Room of One\u2019s Own, and Three Guineas.<\/p>\n Breffni Holahan\u2019s theatre credits include Electric Rosary (Royal Exchange), Collapsible (The Bush Theatre and The Abbey Theatre, Dublin), for which she was awarded The Stage Edinburgh Award for Acting Excellence, Drama at Inish (The Abbey Theatre, Dublin), It Was Easy in the End (The Abbey Theatre), Dog Shit (Theatre503) and The Flea (The Yard Theatre).<\/p>\n Her screen credits include About Joan, The Racer, The Nevers, Vikings, Everything Not Saved and Balor Hall.<\/p>\n Breffni took time out of rehearsals to chat to The Irish World.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n – Advertisement – What drew you to The Waves?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Virginia Woolf fan.<\/p>\n \u201cI really enjoyed her work as a teenager and then I studied English in Trinity so read quite a lot of hers and just kept her in the back of my mind for a really long time.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s been represented in media a few times so always curious to see what people do with her work and then when this one came up, I was just really curious about how you could make such a poem of a book into a play.\u201d<\/p>\n And how did you respond to the script because it is a new adaptation\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine how Flora came to choose what to cut out and what to keep in because the space is very small and intimate but the work is so expansive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt covers friendship, coming of age, grief, and a thread that I really enjoy is the difficulties of making art as you\u2019re growing up with other people and comparisons with other people and finding joy in alternative ways of life when things don\u2019t go exactly how you imagined.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s managed to pack pretty much all of it in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very rounded.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re starting as five-year-olds and we\u2019re going all the way up until we reference being 80 at times so it\u2019s the whole shebang really.\u201d<\/p>\n Can you put your finger on why her writing means so much to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s quite a few reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a woman writing under her own name was really exciting.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s also an unapologetic representation of queerness in her work and in her letters especially and in the non-traditional way of life, of her marriage being non-traditional and moving out of London and all of these choices that she made.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve started a master\u2019s in psychology and I\u2019m fascinated by how her mental health is sewn through her work not that that\u2019s the only lens you can look through but it\u2019s certainly a strong lens for me for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n How have you found the rehearsal process?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s six narrator characters in the book that are represented on stage.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve joked in rehearsals that there\u2019s enough material in the book to have a solo show for each character because it\u2019s so rich.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve actually had a really fascinating session where a Jungian psychologist came in to discuss the collective unconscious with us because these six people, there is a seventh character, grow up together from such a young age that a lot of the play is dealing with trying to figure out who you are when most of you is made up of your friends.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a really interesting couple of hours that we spent with this man who just said that it\u2019s a very real thing to have a society or community or this group of friends grow up and be indistinguishable from each other while being very, very different.<\/p>\n \u201cMy character is the only one that moves out of London in adult life and chooses not to pursue a career in arts and chooses to run a farm and chooses to push London away but still has this haunting of being formed by these other people in her youth and I can certainly relate to that growing up in Ireland and moving here.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of people can.\u201d<\/p>\n Is there a lot of passion in the rehearsal room for the piece?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone has good ideas and everyone is clever and I think that\u2019s a real boon.<\/p>\n \u201cJulia, the director, might have a real task on her hands, to peel back the actors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re always like, \u2018What if I did this upside down? What if I did it like I\u2019m underwater? What if I did it like this?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then she can just say, \u2018That\u2019s a really clear shape\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd another one is, \u2018Very nice, super clear\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cSo she might say that and then say, \u2018No, let\u2019s maybe do this instead\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cBut she\u2019ll let us try the wacky thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Tell us more about Susan because, as you say, she opts out of the rat race and moves to the countryside..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019ve put it best, opting out of that rat race and finding contentment in nature and quiet.<\/p>\n \u201cFlora has handled it so well in the adaptation that there\u2019s quite sublime loneliness for Susan as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s also a fierce loneliness in that when you choose your happiness but it doesn\u2019t fit with everyone else\u2019s and she\u2019s certainly grappling with that especially as she becomes the first to become a parent and she becomes the last to know about things in her friendship group.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very isolating choice that she\u2019s made for herself and then being prideful in that and doubling down on it when really you might benefit from saying, \u2018That was a tough decision I made and some parts of that decision are difficult\u2019, but we\u2019re all prideful, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n Your character Susan is somewhat based on her sister, Vanessa Bell..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, there\u2019s similarities between all of the characters and someone in Virginia\u2019s own life.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it would be almost reductive to her imagination to say that it\u2019s autobiographical because there\u2019s a lot of invention in it but apparently my character Susan is somewhat based on her sister who was an artist.<\/p>\n \u201cSimilarly she elected to practice her art form of painting and some writing outside of town, away from the Bloomsbury group and the kind of chaos and incest of that, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n You mentioned the seventh character. There is another character Percival who is not seen or heard but still very present..<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s certainly a mythologising of this character, Percival and it\u2019s what we do with that mythologised character in our attempts to get closer to them or to become them that I think where the drama is.\u201d<\/p>\n People have their own ideas of Virginia Woolf and her work. Are you looking forward to showing this new take on The Waves?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I think what\u2019s fuelling us is that we\u2019re not saying that this is the definitive adaptation of The Waves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an adaptation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s what was singing off the page to Flora when she was adapting it and what\u2019s singing off the script to us when we\u2019re rehearsing with the director.<\/p>\n \u201cThe book is so personal to everyone who reads it that I\u2019m hoping the play is the same.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Flora\u2019s personal reaction to it.<\/p>\n \u201cThen Julia, the director\u2019s and then the cast\u2019s and the creative team, and then the audience is the final piece.<\/p>\n \u201cVirginia Woolf is herself a real London staple but it\u2019s quite exciting to know that we\u2019re going to be talking to full houses soon.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t wait to share it.\u201d<\/p>\n Is there extra meaning in it being the 95th anniversary of The Waves this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely, yeah.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a special place to be doing a Virginia Woolf as well.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be doing it in London is very exciting and to be so in the centre of town celebrating an anniversary with a very exciting new adaptation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of her least produced or least adapted works.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve all seen a million or read a million versions of Mrs. Dalloway which I love, absolutely adore but it\u2019s exciting to give The Waves her time to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n Would you say The Waves is underappreciated?<\/p>\n \u201cI think she just she wrote so much.<\/p>\n \u201cShe wrote so much and I think in recent years, people have become very fascinated by her personal life, especially with increased representation of LGBTQIA+ characters.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been film adaptations of her life, major Hollywood ones, some more indie ones that are really wonderful.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I love her work so I think giving The Waves a chance to speak on its own without having to be an autobiographical representation is really exciting.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a Vanessa Redgrave adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway on film that is just gorgeous and I\u2019d love to see The Waves given the same credence.\u201d<\/p>\n Have you worked at Jermyn Street Theatre before?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve done a couple of readings there but never a play.<\/p>\n \u201cThe space is very particular.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge story but it\u2019s really intimate and the crowd is right here.\u201d<\/p>\n It couldn\u2019t be more different from the last play we spoke about The Flea which was very all singing and dancing whereas this is more monologue driven and, as you say, intimate in its setting..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, there\u2019s a great mix between direct address to the audience and then really snappy, funny and heartbreaking scenes between multiple people so we\u2019re kind of getting the best of both worlds in that regard.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is certainly a very intimate telling of an intimate story.<\/p>\n \u201cIt covers an awful lot of themes but at the end of the day, it is six people telling the story of trying to figure out who they are when they\u2019re from the ages of five till whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n Is something that the shows, The Flea and The Waves, have in common that they both deal with ripple effects and how one\u2019s actions affects those around them?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, maybe the action is a person, this Percival character.<\/p>\n \u201cThat kind of is the big bang.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019What\u2019s the big bang of every play?\u2019 is a fun question to ask and I think the big bang in this is Percival and growing up.<\/p>\n \u201cIn The Flea it was a flea bites a horse\u2019s leg and from there, the Queen gets involved.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a joy to go from the smallest interaction with Percival, into how it affects your character\u2019s whole life.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a fun exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n You moved to London around lockdown, isn\u2019t that right?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI moved just before lockdown to do a solo play in the Bush and I\u2019ve stayed here since.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n You must be at home here at this point then..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI really, really am.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really rooted down in my community, in where I live in London.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m involved in quite a few local charities and it\u2019s a frustrating situation because I love living and being part of where I am but we are just getting slowly, slowly priced out of that area but it is an absolute goal to stay rooted where we\u2019ve found ourselves in London.\u201d<\/p>\n You are involved in a soup kitchen and food bank, services that are being called upon more and more in this cost of living crisis..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, absolutely.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a policy in our soup kitchen, which is one of the few in the city that doesn\u2019t require a referral from the council to use so you could turn up.<\/p>\n \u201cI always say you could turn up in a Gucci suit, you\u2019re going to get the exact same treatment and the exact same service and items as someone who\u2019s wearing the same clothes for days.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter at all.\u201d<\/p>\n And I would say you see Gucci suits and the like because just because people have material things does not mean they have liquid cash, circumstances change..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely, I think it\u2019s important to have more no questions asked services available to us.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Guardian has recently been posting quite a few articles on charities having to close down due to lack of funding and what that ends up reading like is a lot of asking for proof of need.<\/p>\n \u201cThat makes me a little bit uncomfortable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so hard to ask for help in whatever way to ask for help is surely enough proof of need.\u201d<\/p>\n You also volunteer with helplines..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI volunteer for one mental health crisis text line and I volunteer for an LGBTQIA+ focused helpline and I\u2019ve been volunteering with both for a few years now and both have really brought me to that master\u2019s in psychology.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all lends itself to a better understanding of people.\u201d<\/p>\n A lot of people don\u2019t know what to say to people in crisis, do you find it\u2019s more about listening and going through it with them?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cGenerally it is mostly about listening and creating a space where the person feels safe and entitled to talk about what\u2019s on their mind and also not shying away from what they\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe they have really dark thoughts.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe they\u2019re going through the worst of the worst.<\/p>\n \u201cI know in our play there\u2019s themes of suicide, there\u2019s themes of all sorts of things that are really difficult to talk about but if you just take away the guilt or shame- I find guilt and shame to be really unconstructive emotions and if we can take those out of a conversation, then we can honestly talk with someone about where they\u2019re at and yes, if we\u2019re lucky, we\u2019ll get on to some coping strategies and we\u2019ll talk about things to look forward to or to plan or how to cope in a crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cReally it is just saying, \u2018You\u2019ve called, this is your time. This is your time. What\u2019s up?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all so busy all the time that it\u2019s so nice to just go, \u2018What\u2019s on your mind? I\u2019m not hanging up on you. I\u2019m not doing something else while I\u2019m talking to you. I\u2019m listening\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cDoing one thing at a time seems like a thing gone by that we don\u2019t do anymore but those help lines have really helped me slow down because the whole point is that you don\u2019t do anything else other than listen to that person, be there for them and try help them out of the hole they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n The play deals with themes of suicide. Do you feel it was ahead of its time because it seems like we have only got in the last few years about how to talk about these things..<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe vocabulary seems to be there now but certainly what Flora has really picked up on in this adaptation is where Virginia Woolf was making some kind of slight references to things and we can see them for what they are now.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s her own life and the discovery of her letters and how she came to her own end but I think this adaptation focusing on the terror of growing up and trying to become a grown person with any kind of solid identity. That\u2019s really hard and we don\u2019t really shy away from that.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this there are characters very honestly grappling with that and struggling with that.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of light as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of levity in this as well which is kind of hard to imagine when you think of some of the themes in it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Waves is at Jermyn Street Theatre 16 April- 23 May. For booking and more information, click here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fleadh-Nua-2026-Banner.jpg\"\/)
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Breffni as Queen Victoria in The Flea.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Breffni-Holahan-in-_The-Flea_-at-The-Yard-Theatre_OPT-200x300.jpg\")
Breffni in The Flea.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Breffni-Holahan_OPT-240x300.jpg\")
Breffni Holahan.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breffni in rehearsals. Rehearsal pictures by Alex Brenner. Breffni Holahan told David Hennessy about being part of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[251279,748,393,4884,108861,257,251280,16,15,130337],"class_list":["post-889606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-breffni-holahan","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-jermyn-street-theatre","tag-london","tag-the-waves","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-virginia-woolf"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116393286031761421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}