Last October it was announced that all but two of the original cast members from Alan Parker’s 1991 film adaptation of the Dublin-based novel were to reunite for a 20th anniversary tour.Īndrew Strong, Glen Hansard, Bronagh Gallagher, Angeline Ball, Michael Aherne, Felim Gormley, Dave Finnegan, Ken McCluskey, and Dick Massey have all signed up. He said: ‘I don’t want to sound demeaning or mean-spirited or anything like that, but calling themselves The Commitments, which they have no right to… It’s called a reunion but they were never actually a band. In fact, the former schoolteacher whose novel inspired the hit movie, is baffled by the actors’ decision to call themselves after the fictional north Dublin soul band.Īnd as far as Roddy Doyle is concerned, The Commitments as a band will only ever exist in the pages of his 1987 book. But for author Roddy Doyle news that the cast are reforming for a reunion tour has come as a shock – because he believes they were never even a real band to begin with.

He’s the man who created The Commitments. He isn’t dying, he thinks, but he might be.Fact: Novelist Roddy Doyle is working on stage version

In it, Jimmy Rabbitte, the man who invented the Commitments back in the eighties is now forty-seven, with a loving wife, four kids … and bowel cancer. Roddy’s new novel The Guts will be published this August. He also wrote the screenplays for The Snapper, The Van, Family, When Brendan Met Trudy and he co-wrote the screenplay for The Commitments. He co-adapted with Joe O’Byrne his novel The Woman who Walked into Doors. Roddy has written for the stage and his plays include Brownbread, Guess Who’s Coming For The Dinner and most recently he adapted The Government inspector by Gogol for the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1991 for The Van and won the prize in 1993, for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. He has contributed to a variety of publications including The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Metro Eireann and many anthologies. He has written six books for children including A Greyhound of a Girl shortlisted for this year’s Carnegie Medal and Wilderness.

He also wrote two collections of stories, The Deportees and Bullfighting, Rory & Ita, a memoir of his parents and most recently, Two Pints, a collection of dialogues. Roddy is the author of nine acclaimed novels including The Snapper, The Women Who Walked into Doors, A Star Called Henry and The Dead Republic.

The commitments by roddy doyle