Cycling injury threat to Cork actor’s big break

AFTER battling a serious cycling injury, Cork actor Aron Hegarty is starring in a new TV thriller series.

He plays a criminal in eight-parter Then You Run, which began on Sky on July 7. Fellow Cork actor Cillian O’Sullivan is also in the show, which stars Limerick-born Leah McNamara, who studied at UCC.

Then You Run tells the story of a group of four young Londoners on a getaway to Rotterdam, but when the estranged father of Tara (McNamara) is found dead, they go on the run across Europe with 3kg of heroin and criminals giving chase.

Hegarty plays one such criminal, Davey. and says: “He’s a bit of a psychopath. A lot of his lines are very funny but he definitely has a nasty streak. 

He’s mostly very clear-minded about what he wants to do, which is have fun, meet girls, or kill someone.

Early reviews have been good. For Aron, the show offered an opportunity to work alongside actors he’s long admired.

”It’s brilliant to be part of this cast, Leah is on the cusp of being a household name. The ensemble is fantastic, they’re al breaking through.”

Aron grew up in Inniscarra, and at Presentation Boys College, under Kieran Aherne’s direction, he had his first experience of acting.

“I was lucky to have that introduction to theatre at that age and for someone like Kieran to show me the ropes.”

Later, Aron enrolled in Commerce and Chinese at UCC and hoped to forge a steady career path. But he found himself spending more time in the dramatic society, Dramat, than in lecture halls. 

I certainly had my incubation period of drama in Cork and fell in love with it there.

After a year, he moved to Galway to study psychology, but says, “I continually came back to drama, to plays, to short movies, to my own level of creativity. I’ve always loved stories, being read stories as a kid, and I really wanted to invest my energy into telling stories that moved me and others.”

He completed an MA in Drama and Theatre studies and landed professional acting roles, but wanted to understand how to perform in front of a camera.

I was so used to the stage and to big reactions but I wasn’t getting the roles I was auditioning for on self tapes for movies or TV.

He studied acting for camera at Bow Street, and says the course “paid for itself straight away”. This training, alongside his experience in voice work, stage production and short films, helped him acquire a UK agent who was responsible for securing him an audition for Then You Run.

Then, disaster!

While filming in Berlin, Aron was on his way to the gym when he badly damaged his knee in a cycling accident. It threatened to put an end to his role in the Sky series.

“Luckily, I’d filmed a lot already and they re-wrote scenes and pushed others out until late August (2021) so I’d have time to heal, then they shot around my knee so I was able to do it. 

Rehab took a full year until I wasn’t limping again.

The accident meant he couldn’t continue his run in Circle of Friends at the Gaiety. Unable to audition for months on end, his UK agent let him go. However Aron is determined and pursued Candlelit Tales, the storytelling company he co-created with his sister, Sorcha,

“I did a lot of podcasting, online teaching and developed the business side of the storytelling company.”

Aron explains: “We tell stories from Irish anthologies, put music to it, do live performances and also have a podcast. We’re booked for workshops, schools and shows. 

It really feeds my creative need. When the phone isn’t ringing I go ahead myself and get a project going.

Now fully recovered, he’s relieved to find “people haven’t forgotten about me. My phone rang last week and I got cast in Blue Raincoat theatre company’s production of The Riders to the Sea, in Sligo.”

Candlelit Tales perform on July 22 at Gaia (98th Street, The Lough) and Connolly’s of Leap on the 23rd.