Making a Show of Myself: Storytelling and sincerity creates a positive, hopeful world
Smock Alley Boys’ School, Dublin until December 2
Mary Kate O'Flanagan in Making a Show of Myself. Photo: Isibéal O'Connell
A story slam is an open-mic competitive event where people tell stories without a script. The performance style is generally that of a raconteur rather than an actor. Mary Kate O’Flanagan has won a number of story slam titles both in Dublin and Los Angeles and her 75-minute solo show is a series of these slam-shaped vignettes.
There are six stories in all, and though there is no autobiography, no account of where she grew up or went to school, the stories nonetheless offer a clear picture of her life. The most striking tale is an account of an enduring friendship she struck up with a Sudanese youth named Carlos with whom she became connected while volunteering at the Calais migrant camps. She helped the boy come to Ireland. She paints a vivid picture of how she and her five sisters carried their father’s coffin after his unexpected death at age 74, when “he was a fit as a flea”. Another intriguing story is that of her grandmother’s connection with a German prisoner of war in 1940s Manchester.
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