Sean Barrett is not Irish

Molloy is a wonderful book. However, I realised in chapter four that Naxos had in its supreme stupidity appointed TWO voice actors to play the ONE role of the title character. This is not Godot or Endgame, with endless sparring between two characters. There is only one character. Molloy. Now Dermot Crowley is Irish, born in Cork. He has an Irish accent. He is extraordinarily capable of carrying the pathos, disgust, anger, degradation, humour and horror necessary for the role. Sean Barrett is English. Barrett was born in Hampstead. HAMPSTEAD. Barrett cossets a soporifically cloying entitled BBC accent. Now just because you’re named Sean doesn’t mean you have an Irish accent, nor does it mean you can act as if you are Irish, which Barrett surely cannot do. So alternating chapters, NARRATED BY THE SAME PROTAGONIST, are read by different actors. WHY? This is intolerable, not merely because the same character is covered by two different voices, but mainly because SEAN BARRETT IS RUBBISH. Each chapter by Crowley is brilliant, while each succeeding chapter, by BBC Barrett, is twee Queen’s-Christmas-message shite. Crowley acts the role appropriate to an Irish continental pissed off with life, while Barrett minces his way towards a peerage. If you can find an audio version read by one voice actor, choose it instead of this tag-teaming bullshit.

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