ENTERTAINMENT
Charlotte Brook meets Louisa Harland, the Derry Girls star whose charismatic presence is lighting up the stage and screen this spring
Louisa Harland has just stepped out of a rehearsal with Brian Cox to talk to me. ‘He’s hyper-intelligent – and such good craic,’ says the Dublin-born actress, with the headshake and widened eyes of someone who can’t quite believe she’s about to share a stage with Logan Roy.
Having captivated audiences (as well as casting directors) with her charming performance as the eccentric Orla in the hit comedy series Derry Girls, Harland appears in several high-profile projects that will propel her to further attention.
In Eugene O’Neill’s dramatic masterpiece Long Day’s Journey Into Night – a powerful psychological portrait of a family in 1912 Connecticut, which is set over a single day – she is joining Cox in the West End, together with Patricia Clarkson, Laurie Kynaston and Daryl McCormack. Harland will play Cathleen. ‘Yeah, their Irish maid. Would you believe it?’ she deadpans.
‘The cast is just us five – it’s such a joyous rehearsal room. Mine isn’t a central role, so I’m doing a lot of watching and learning.’
However, on the small screen this month, Harland is playing the titular character in Renegade Nell, a new series written by Sally Wainwright, whose previous creation Happy Valley gripped the nation. The setting is very different: in mystical 18th-century England, Nelly Jackson is framed for murder, and becomes the country’s most famous outlaw in her efforts to protect herself, her sisters and eventually – with the help of a sup
