Liam Ward
Ward is the classic interloper, the person who arrives and turns the two-hander into a complex and destructive triangle.
Played by Jamie Dornan
The nature of Ward’s feelings for Beth are hard to discern.
Unlike Beth, the Catholic Ward has travelled, crucially to America where he has come in contact with radical Republican thinkers who having failed in their efforts to spark a popular uprising in Ireland itself and have hit upon what seems to them a far better strategy: holding British cities ransom in order to force the hand of the British Government.
The nature of Ward’s feelings for Beth are hard to discern – he seems to have genuine affection for her – what is clear is that he is more dedicated to the fight against British colonial rule in Ireland than he is to the pursuit of personal happiness. What the screenplay shows in this wider view is a class-riddled world made bitter by want and in that way Beth and Liam emerge as symbols of those struggling for a better future. The problem is how to get there and how to survive along the way.
