Neil O'Shea

An Evening with Great Irish Writers

       -a One-Man Performance - Long version

Neil O'Shea, actor and radio and TV performer in Ireland, brings us on a journey through the writings of some of Ireland's most famous writers. These short extracts are performed in a simple stylish presentation without the need for either specific costume or set - rather like a stand up routine but with material by some of the best ever writers!

The main emphasis is on humour, in the form of Oscar Wilde's hilarious creations such as Lady Bracknell from his most famous play "The Importance of Being Earnest," or Oscar himself in his description of his trip to America, or in Jonathan Swift's (the author of "Gulliver's Travels," famous satirist and Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin) "Resolutions When I Come to Be Old" in which, in 1699, Jonathan makes a rather comical list of New Year's type Resolutions for his future.

Then there is the humour in Percy French's hilarious parody of Queen Elizabeth the First of England and Lord Essex (who she sends to Ireland to control the troublesome Irish), or Oliver Goldsmith's humorous moral tale "An Elegy Written on the Death of a Mad Dog" from "The Vicar of Wakefield.

Then there is George Bernard Shaw's view of the Irish character and the Irish imagination as outlined by his character Doyle in the play "John Bull's Other Island." There are also a few gems of poetry by two of Ireland's most renowned poets William Butler Yeats and Seamus Heaney, (both of whom won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Yeats in 1923 and Heaney in 1995).

Other writers include Sean O'Casey with an extract from "Shadow of a Gunman," JM Synge from "The Playboy of the Western World," and Christy Browne from "Down All the Days."

The show pays tribute to the extraordinary wealth of Literature in English that has come out of Ireland without even beginning to cover the more recent writers - there are so many more who could be included in such a show but will have to wait until another time.