Wednesday 14th – Saturday 17th August 2024
A Celebration of the Stories of Eamon Kelly
Pakie O’Callaghan’s A Celebration of The Stories of Eamon Kelly developed out of an RTE radio programme that went out in the autumn of 2022 to mark international story telling day. Pakie was invited to tell a couple of stories and as a lifelong admirer of Kelly, he opted to tell two of the master storytellers. He was subsequently invited to do a full length show based on Kelly’s stories and A Celebration of The Stories of Eamon Kelly is the result.
Eamon Kelly has been one of O’Callaghan’s theatrical heroes since his teenage years and he fondly remembers listening with his father to Kelly on Dinjo’s Take the floor which went out for many years on Sunday nights on Radio Eireann, and later on to Kelly’s own show The Rambling House. O’Callaghan remembers being transfixed by Kelly’s performances in his one man shows In my Fathers Time, “Bless me Father and Stonemad which were performed to packed houses at The Everyman Theatre, and which won widespread acclaim both in Ireland and internationally.
A Celebration of The Stories of Eamon Kelly will be a trip down memory lane for many, but O’Callaghan is hoping to also develop a new audience for these stories which he describes as universal and timeless and always very, very funny. In the show O’Callaghan does not seek to mimic Eamon Kelly and while staying true to the wonderful writing, A Celebration of The Stories of Eamon Kelly is O’Callaghan’s own interpretation of the work of Ireland’s greatest storyteller.
The show is directed by Marion Wyatt, who brought Sunbeam Girls, Dockers, Katty Barry, Queen of the Coal Quay and recent sell out The Echo Boys to the Cork Arts Theatre stage.
In a long career, Pakie O’Callaghan has worked on stage, TV and radio. In the mid-nineties he featured in the RTE radio sketch series Shortt Circuit and subsequently played a lead role in the TV series Bull Island in which he is remembered fondly for playing, among others, the then minister for Finance Charlie McCreevey. In 2004, Pakie joined Joe Duffy’s Funny Friday Show as a writer/performer and has been there ever since. With the late and much lamented Frank Twomey, Pakie co-wrote and starred in the hit stage show Santa Ponsa or Bust which spawned two follow up shows, Surviving Santa Ponsa and Life after Santa Ponsa. Pakie has previously written and performed three one man shows, In the National Interest, The Last Brown Envelope and No more Brown Envelopes, all of which toured nationally.
A Celebration Of The Stories Of Eamon Kelly is part of our Summer Season. Running throughout July and August, each of the eight shows in the season will have 6 performances from Wednesday – Saturday, including a 1pm show on Thursday and Friday.
For the lunchtime performances, patrons can choose a Lunch & Show ticket for €18, which includes soup or sandwich option, served from 12 noon until ten minutes before the performance time. Show Only tickets are also available for the 1pm shows at €15.
Tickets: €18, €15
*Booking fees apply.
