love is a four letter word: articles


Love is the word

ALBEE is at the airport with two tickets to Cuba in her trembling hands. She phones the pub, Paul picks up. She tells him the flight to Cuba leaves in two hours. Does he abandon the pub the Love is a Four Letter Word crew have fought so hard to keep?

You might just have to check that out for yourself.

But we can tell you Paul Barry, who plays the character Paul, did end up in Cuba on holiday after the series finished filming.

"I certainly would recommend you don't do the tourist thing and stay in a hotel if you go to Cuba but to stay with a family in a homestay and learn a bit of Spanish," Barry says. "I did that. I rode around the streets on an old Cuban bicycle and got lost and had people try to sell me cigars in the street."

Barry says from his experience if Albee and Paul do end up in Cuba they'll be in for a rough ride.

"I think they'll cling to each other like a couple of monkeys," he laughs.

Love is a Four Letter Word will not return for a second series when the initial 26 episodes wind up on July 24.

Barry says it is disappointing the show will not continue.

He has fond memories of the three months he spent hanging out on set with musicians like Tim Freedman and Daniel Johns. Pre-Shrunk, Machine Gun Fellatio, Stella One Eleven, Nokturnl and Endorphin were also among the 22 artists who appeared throughout the series.

"Every week I'd sit there and couldn't believe I was getting paid for this."

Barry also misses the liberation that came through playing the occasionally obnoxious Paul.

"He doesn't censor his behaviour whereas I do," Barry says. "He gave me the freedom to live that vicarious part of my life."

Although Paul does soften towards the end of the series.

"He actually looks like he has a sensitive bone in his body at one point."

Since finishing Love is a Four Letter Word Barry has gone on to teach acting at Fox Studios and is producing a play in Sydney called Dip Me In Honey And Throw Me To The Bees.

Barry says he is content to concentrate on writing, producing and directing his own material for the moment, although the promise of regular work could lure him back to television.

But it would be difficult to accept a part on just any old program after working on Love Is A Four Letter Word.

"The whole heart and soul of the show and what the show stood for would make it hard to go on to something like Blue Heelers," Barry admits. "Although I hear they are looking for a new lead role in All Saints."

Love is a Four Letter Word, ABC, Tuesday, 9.30pm.

By Allison White
July 12, 2001
The Courier Mail