By Oisín Flores Sweeney
Many view theatre as a dying art form. It was struggling during the recession anyway, but just as the economy began to turn, along came the likes of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to decimate our attention spans and engulf our lives.
Generally, if you look around an auditorium, aside from an abundance of empty seats, you might notice that the majority of audience members are over the age of sixty. Smartphones and social media apps have initiated a slow decay of the tools required to value art: patience, commitment and appreciation. Truthfully, a lot of young people simply do not find theatre relevant.
As a result, artists have been forced to adapt in order to survive, and this has led to some really interesting work. Take Paddy Cullivan’s I Can’t Believe It’s Not Ireland, which is in the midst of an extensive national tour.
Even though it is advertised as ‘Theatre’, it is not a play. Or at least, it is not a play in the traditional sense of the word. In any sense of the word, really...
As I took my seat, I could see Cullivan standing at a podium, setting up what appeared to be a PowerPoint presentation. Was it too late to get up and leave? I feared I was in for ninety of the longest minutes of my life.
On the contrary, what I got was an exceedingly witty, often funny, incredibly informative lecture, which I guarantee will trump any college lecture you have ever attended. Throw in some music and a couple of top notch impersonations, and the result is an entertaining show, albeit without much theatricality.
It is the year 2032 and Ireland is united, but how did we get here? In order to explain, Cullivan goes right back through the history of our small island, spouting some astounding facts. He highlights the abnormality of things that we perceive to be normal in Irish society, much like an observational comic, clearly demonstrating his repartee. Some thought-provoking suggestions of how a united Ireland might work are then presented.
Cullivan is quite firm in his views, but similar to the likes of Irish Times’ columnist Fintan O’Toole, he delivers them with such intellect and panache that you end up buying into them completely, not really giving much credence to the other side of the argument. All of his suggestions for a better Ireland make perfect sense, even if he veers away from the trickier subjects of feasibility and implementation.
His idea for a high speed train, for instance, which would circle the island of Ireland, leaves us all thinking: ‘Yes – why don’t we have one of those?’ His repeated reference to it as the ‘Sneachta Piercer’ never failed to make me laugh.
I have been told that Cullivan often performs his shows at secondary schools. Not only is this beneficial due to their obvious educational value, but anything that gets children interested in theatre is a good thing in my eyes.
His other ventures The Murder of Michael Collins and The Murder of Wolf Tone often do the rounds. One thing is for sure: I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the next Paddy Cullivan show that comes to town.
For more information, visit paddycullivan.com
