Actress Lauren Larkin tells us about filming the virals

We made our way to Ballymun in Barry O’Connor’s car which has a lot of character may I add, with maps, kinder surprise toys and much more. We arrived in Ballymun safely.

High rise blocks, abandoned flats, grey sky, cold air and a feeling of helplessness.

We went into axis and had our dinner. Barry got what looked like a typical Sunday dinner. He was upset because his can of coke wasn’t cold but he soon got over it. Ger got chicken balls, chips and curry sauce.

“Fuck it, it’s Friday” I said. I got the pasta and Grace got what Barry got. We enjoyed the food.

During dinner, Barry and Ger were trying to kick me out of the show, saying they were getting another actress to do my job now. “You gave it a good shot, now give someone else a chance,” Barry said. I sat in silence whilst eating my pasta. Our location manager Rachael Keogh, then arrived. She was going to show us all the good places to make our viral. Niamh and Ruth then arrived. I don’t know Niamh’s title but she’s a lovely woman whom I had met before but didn’t remember. Barry and Ger then took the opportunity to make another deal out of that,

but I don’t mind because it’s Barry and Ger. We love each other.

Niamh showed us the space which was very exciting. The boys did some vocal exercises that they had learned in Trinity to make sure their projection was perfect for the coming weeks.

I didn’t go to Trinity so I opted out of that one.

Then, an amazing thing happened where Niamh showed us the green room and the dressing rooms and I found out that I get my own dressing room. I was so excited. The boys pretended they didn’t care but I knew they did.

We started the actual shoot after that, which was the most surreal thing I have ever done. We were recreating excerpts from the book “Dying to Survive”. The whole thing seemed so crazy because most of the events from the book actually happened in Ballymun.

It seems like nobody has anything to do, people are just standing around, waiting for something to happen.

There is no sense of urgency or people moving. Everyone is strolling, sitting
or standing around. When Ger was carrying me into the axis people were shouting things like “don’t let her fall, love” or “ you’re on candid camera; Smack her arse” When the boys were fighting, everyone loved it, people were standing around, predicting who was going to win.

I was overwhelmed by the whole thing.

We did a piece from the book at “The Towers”, a pub across the road from axis. I asked people going by if they had a lend of 20 pounds. Some people ignored me, some people just said they hadn’t got it to spare, but I was shocked by the amount of people who were willing to give me money. One woman said she could give me 10 euro and hoped that it would help me. We finished the shoot and the whole thing felt so real.

The high rise blocks were still there along with the abandoned flats, grey sky, cold air but I definitely felt less helpless.

HEROIN runs in axis Ballymun from the 24th to 26th March with a Matinee on Friday at 3pm.