Malachy has just turned 25, and he has a few things to say about that. Dealing with the death of his younger brother, he is struggling to come to terms with all that he is, and everything that he's not...
Writer and performer Conor Burke introduces his new play Everything is Grand, and I'm Completely Okay, a tale about growing up, and the lessons we learn along the way...
In a desperate attempt to understand the world around me, I started writing plays at the age of nineteen. My thought process behind this was probably rooted in the fact that I didn't seem to know anything about the world - and I thought that expressing those feelings in a play would help me comprehend the complicated.
It turned out that, in many ways, I was right – the act of writing and producing my own work has been a wonderful exercise in cathartics and has taught me a lot.
That first play, Leaving Narnia, told the story of a young man on the brink of coming out of the closet to his parents - a week before the marriage equality referendum. In real life, that’s when the show was staged. I then went on to write a piece called Sophie, Ben, and Other Problems - a play that told the story of a young couple coming to terms with a cancer diagnosis. Another show, Absolutely Fabulously Ridiculously Ugly, was a piece centred around Dublin nightlife and the friendships that are formed between heterosexual women & gay men. My most recent work, The Terms and Conditions of Me & My Ma, explored the dynamic between Irish mothers and their sons.
All my work is set in contemporary Ireland, and most of the characters that I write about are 'othered’ in some way – they may be social outcasts, ‘left of centre’, or considered by most to be a little eccentric. Their perspectives often go against the mainstream, and audiences are often challenged by their outlook and views. My one-person show, Everything is Grand, and I’m Completely Okay, is no exception to this rule.
Everything is Grand, and I’m Completely Okay tells the story of twenty-five-year-old Malachy. Dealing with the death of his younger brother, he is struggling to come to terms with all that he is, and everything that he’s not. Working as a customer support advisor in a call centre at a bin disposal company and experiencing many different escapades with his best friend Pauline, Malachy is eager to take some time to reflect and move on with his life. He quickly comes to realise, however, that it’s not as easy as it seems on paper.
Throughout the hour, he espouses to the audience twenty-five things he’s learned in his twenty-five years of life. He desperately searches for answers in front of the crowd, and like most of us – learns as he lives. Malachy is fundamentally a very different person to me – but much like me, there are still many things he doesn’t understand.
Presenting this work as part of the 20th International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival is a privilege that I can’t quite articulate. It’s a festival that means so much – and one that is committed to amplifying the voices of queer artists.
So, here’s to all people that don’t understand things – it will be alright! As Malachy himself would say: "Everything is Grand, and I’m Completely Okay."
Everything is Grand, and I'm Completely Okay runs from the 8th-13th of May at Pearse Centre, Ireland Institute, Dublin as part of the 20th International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival - find out more here.
