Friday, 28 October 2011

Romantic Ireland (1986)

This was my first full-length play.
I wrote it for the teenagers in Terenure Youth Club.  It was a moral tale about American secret agents locating a nuclear missile in a church bell-tower by duping the parish priest.  I wrote it around the time Knock Airport was built, and people were wondering if there was more than met the eye to having a nice big airstrip so close to the Atlantic.
I remember that my Dad, Tim, came to the show, although he was very sick with cancer.  He died later that year.  I was always glad that he got to see a couple of things I wrote.  Speaking to me from his hospital bed, at a time when it was clear that he was not going to get better, he half-pleaded with me to go for comedy whenever possible; there was enough to be sad about in the world, and people need to laugh.

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