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From top: Inis Mór, in the Aran Islands; students
at Trinity College Dublin.The cast and crew of
Normal People at
Blackbird Rathmines,
shooting scenes for the
show’s fifth episode.IRISH WRITER Sally Rooney’s second novel, Normal People,
is a coming-of-age story centered on two classmates at
Trinity College Dublin. In the TV version of the book,
featuring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, Ireland’s
capital plays a starring role.
Unlike Connell, the character he plays in the show,
Mescal knew Dublin well—he studied drama at Trinity
College and was living in the up-and-coming Liberties
neighborhood during the shoot. “I love that part of town,”
he said. “You can feel the old and the new rubbing up
against each other.”
Despite her pitch-perfect Irish accent as Marianne,
London-born Edgar-Jones had never visited Dublin and
chose to live in an apartment in the heart of one of its
Georgian quarters. Edgar-Jones and Mescal forged a close
friendship off-screen and frequently grabbed dinner
at Brookwood (brookwooddublin.com; entrées $19–$53),
an old-school surf-and-turf restaurant. “It was right next
to my apartment, and they served the best margarita
I’ve ever had,” she said.Before filming began, the young cast got
acquainted over craft beers at Blackbird
Rathmines (fb.com/blackbird rathmines), an
intimate, dimly-lit bar where scenes from the
fifth episode were filmed. On weekends, they
dipped in to Dublin’s legendary after-hours
scene, spending raucous evenings at Pygmalion
(pyg.ie), a nightclub set inside a Georgian town
house. “We’d end up spilling onto the street,
where all the craic”—Irish slang for gossip—
“would happen,” Mescal reminisced.
When shooting wrapped, Edgar-Jones
returned to London, while Mescal escaped to
Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands, located
between Galway Bay and the Atlantic. The
12-square-mile isle is known for its dramatic,
wave-bashed scenery and remote, edge-of-
the-world feel. “You can’t do much other than
walk and swim,” he said. “And being next to
the ocean is always good for the soul.”Normal People is streaming now on
BBC Three/Hulu.Dublin, Off-Duty
When the camera wasn’t rolling, the stars of Normal People,
BBC Three’s adaptation of Sally Rooney’s critically acclaimed novel,
discovered the best of Ireland’s capital. BY AOIFE O’RIORDAIN“ In Kenya, the best wildlife viewing begins in
late June, when more than 2 million animals
migrate to the Masai Mara National Reserve.
It’s the trip of a lifetime!”
— T+L A-LIST TRAVEL ADVISOR SUNIT SANGHRAJKA
([email protected])My Dream Summer GetawayDISPATCH
TAL0620_Discoveries.indd 28 FINAL 4/21/20 6:46 PM