It's the great discovery he made in his study of the Irish character — the idea of survival as an act of imagination.
One of the hallmarks of the Irish character is an intense aversion to hype.
The supporting cast reveals the great strength of British and Irish character acting then, with Murray Melvin, Gay Hamilton, Patrick Magee, Steven Berkoff, Frank Middlemass and the wonderful Leonard Rossiter.
They have little, if anything, to do with the traditional cast of Irish characters.
The native Irish character of the population was never wholly obliterated, and in the west, near Dungarvan, Irish (Gaelic) continues to be spoken.
In Shaw's view, the best of Stanford's works displayed an uninhibited, Irish, character.
Day-Lewis, ironically, does look Irish, and has played Irish characters in the past in My Left Foot, The Boxer, The Last of the McHicans (only joking).
Ryan's roster in recent years was of diminished quality.
Some of Mr. Shepard's male characters have opted for lives without the complications of wives and girlfriends, lives free of the emotional tumult of their youths, perhaps, but at the same time lives of diminished expectations.
The jury rejected his defense of diminished responsibility.
Few jurisdictions subscribe to the doctrine of diminished responsibility.
