Rocca Murphy is a rising star on stage and screen

Rocco Murphy’s piercing blue eyes look out intensely from a promotional still for the award-winning short film Radha.

With his brown curls (darkened for the film) peeking out from under his peaked cap, and his checked shirt and overcoat, the Clare teenager very much looks like a country boy from the past, as he tightly holds the reins of a horse and cart. 

Like lots of things in life, his big-screen debut in the feature film, written and directed by Sonya O’Donoghue, came about by chance after his mother Linda spotted an ad on Facebook three years ago looking for an Irish boy in the countryside for a new film.

Set in rural Ireland, it centres on a 12-year-old girl called Radha, who lives a solitary life with her grandmother. After witnessing the tragic death of a local girl, they find themselves complicit in hiding the truth.

“It was so cool. It was savage at the time,” says Rocco, on playing Tom, the brother of the girl who had died. “I had never experienced anything like it before. I wasn’t even in secondary school, so it was mad to be on set,” he recalls of the filming, which took place in the Burren in 2022 when he was 13, alongside well-known actress Olwen Fouéré.

With sparse conversation in what Rocco describes as a “deep” film, it was a challenge for him to portray emotion.

“I had to show a lot with facial expressions and the way I moved,” he says, remembering a graveyard scene. “I had to look really sombre while a priest was speaking. And there was a camera all around us at the time, and you had to try not to focus on that as well. You had to stay focused on what was happening in the scene.”

Seeing the clipboard and someone shouting “action” was also a bit of a thrill for Rocco, who lives in the Ballynacally countryside, close to Ennis. He is very appreciative of the help and support of his parents Linda and Rory, along with his siblings Jamie, Hayley, Bella and twins Willow and Bodhi.

The film was premiered at Galway Film Fleadh last year, and since then it has been screened at festivals all over Ireland, France and the US. It was shown on RTÉ and is still available to view on the RTÉ Player.

Asked what it was like to see the final film on the big screen, Rocco replies: “It was weird seeing myself on screen in front of 200 or 300 people in the room watching you. It was nice – people were coming up to me afterwards saying, ‘You did a great job’.”

Amazing experience

“I’d like to thank Sonya O’Donoghue for making me a part of Radha. It was such an amazing experience. It was an insane opportunity to be given at such a young age.”

“I would love to do it again,” says Rocco. But, for now, he is enjoying being involved in the performing arts group in Ennis, which has staged Mamma Mia and Sister Act, the latter in Glór Theatre, since he joined two years ago.

Prior to that, he was involved with Stage School for several years, where he had lessons in singing, dancing and acting.

Rocco, who has just completed his Junior Cert at St John Bosco College, Kildysart, thrives on performing and being part of a team.

“The atmosphere behind stage leading up to the show, I love that so much. That was my favourite part [of being in the stage school]. You get to play a whole new person every year and getting to develop their character into your own… it’s one of the things that brings me a lot of happiness,” he explains.

When asked if he gets nervous, he says yes, but it all fades away when he gets on stage and become the person he needs to be. Rocco also treads the boards with Kildysart Drama Group and has appeared in their plays for three years running.

He admires Alisha Weir, the Dubliner who played the lead in Matilda, the hit musical in the West End, saying she got a chance and took it and made the most of it. That’s something he finds very inspiring. Rocco is also a big fan of TV comedy Derry Girls.

“If I really put my mind to it, perhaps I could get there too,” he adds, and while the teenager knows it’s very hard to get into the industry, he believes drama and music will be a big part of his life one way or the other. He also has hopes of becoming a primary school teacher.

Rocco is very clear on what his ultimate dream job would be, though. “I’d love to work onstage in musicals, like in the West End – that would be huge. I’d love to be in the show Blood Brothers; I’d give anything to be in that.”