How do you unwind at the weekend?
Ordinarily, if not working on shows or doing walkabout characters in festivals, it's all about the children. We have a new baby, Sunny Bill, who's 50 days old tomorrow. I also have a four-year-old daughter, Bel Sparrow, so we're not as full of fear this time. We're all mad about the arts and my wife, Paula O'Reilly, is a movement director. Replay Theatre Company, which is putting on The Untold Truth of Captain Hook, a magical pirates and Christmas show, is very organised so we don't rehearse at weekends. So I'd wheel the baby and we'd go to playgrounds at the weekend near Ravenhill where we live. I love Ormeau Park, also Daddy Winkers, a little playground with a terrible name close to the Lazy Claire Patisserie.
What do you recall most about weekends growing up?
I come from a family of four boys and whether mum and dad were interested in keeping tabs on us, it didn't happen. We'd play football morning, noon and night. Funnily enough, I was never into drama when younger but loved things like sea swimming.
Friday night or Saturday night?
I'm a Friday night person. My thinking is that people are more annoying on a Saturday, already a bit hungover, but on Friday you get a better class of person delighted it's the weekend.
Do you have a must-listen weekend radio show or podcast?
No, but I like to make videos in spare moments for the craic. In lockdown I made a raft that are on Vimeo, including one called The Nolympics. Friends contributed and Nicky Harley did a funny version of the torchlight procession dressed in winter clothes, got a spark from her television and ran through the sitting room.
What is your favourite weekend TV show/Netflix?
We don't have a television as we're trying to keep the children away from watching screens.
Have you a favourite eatery or is it a takeaway?
We love Thai House on Castlereagh Road and my daughter gets excited four days before we go. We dropped the full £100 of our High Street cash card there.
Is Sunday still special?
My day off is Monday, and Sunday is just another day. Our mother tried to drag us all to church and we would moan from start to finish. I've got a different perspective on Christmas going into Dublin children's hospitals as a clown doctor. Once a kid wouldn't eat, so we put the mash and chipolatas on trial. To prove they were innocent, he had to eat them and the relief on his parents' faces was something else.
How do you feel on Sunday night about Monday morning?
Excited, even though I have been doing this for nearly 20 years. My first role was as Oisín in Oisín and Tír na nÓg with Clann Cluana and it toured for a psychotic year. There were very few places it didn't go, including Spanish Point in the middle of winter.
The Untold Truth of Captain Hook (The MAC, themaclive.com) runs until January 1
