 and Paul Brady and the Homes of Donegal. And as promised, I have got Patrick McBrarty in the studio with me tonight. And he is talking about Jimmy's winning matches and indeed the Homes of Donegal were roaring back in 2012. Patty, you're very welcome. No, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, that song is incredible, isn't it? Just sitting, listening away there. And as I was saying to you before we went on air, my father loved his old time dancing. And God rest him, but whatever Paul brought out that song, he said, he murdered that song. I couldn't convince him that it was brilliant, you know. But anyway, that's that. So it's September, I talked to you last. I can't believe it's September. Yeah, it's March. And you were just about to go on stage in the greening with the border game with the Lyric Theatre and up and down at Street Patty. No, we went everywhere. Seapers were all over the country with that. And so we did the big tour of it. It went incredibly well, very, very lucky. And really, really enjoyed the tours. We were everywhere from Limerick to Donegal to Belfast, Dublin, Galway, you know, Monaghan. We were all over the country, which was great, great fun. And the last time I was talking to you, we went through the background and all in the theatre. And with the Lyford Players, with the greening production of The Butcher Boy, and with the Lyric. But you've taken now a turn at directing. So how does that feel? Well, it feels great. Like actually, I'm really enjoying, this is my first time directing, and it's a really enjoyable process. It's a very creative process. You're constantly in creativity, and I really like that, you know, I really like that feeling. And I love the responsibility of the buck stops with me, you know, I make the decisions in that sense. And I really enjoy that responsibility and taking that to the place where it needs to be, the show, you know, because Cairn had written a draft, a very early draft of this. And I helped Cairn kind of all the way through the developments, myself and him. And we got ourselves into kind of the same plan that I feel with mentality-wise, and we understood exactly what each other wanted. And so when it came to actually directing the piece, they asked me then to do it, because it's such a history with the play as it developed, you know, so it was kind of a natural progression. And I was happy to take it on. So you're a self-enlightened Cairn, having great friends for ages and ages and ages. And I suppose whenever he wrote the play himself, he had his own interpretation of it. And of course, you, with your acting experience, have maybe your interpretation. Have you come to bloat? Are you on the same page? No, not unless everything that, just during the development of it, we kind of, because the play and the background of the play, Peppers, the journey of Donnie Gull from 92 to 2012. And so that's the background of the piece. And I guess the early drafts of the piece, because Cairn is such, this is a love letter to Donnie Gull, this play. It's a love letter to GA and to Lady Sports as well. And so I think that the GA aspect was a bit more to the foreground, whereas I wanted him to focus primarily on the father-daughter story and the real heart of the piece. And we developed that over and he's done an incredible job at telling this beautiful father-daughter story. And then so now the GA and the journey of GA and the Donnie Gull team and Lady's GA is peppered in the background, you know? Well, I remember the first time that they won the All Ireland back in 1992. I swore that if they ever won, if they're ever won an All Ireland final again, I'd be there and myself and my friend Maureen, we went it and we had just, it was just an incredible day. That's unbelievable. Like even 92, you know, I wouldn't have been very old at the time, but I remember I was in Senior Infants or Senior Infants in St. Bethan's National School in St. Johnson and I remember Aunt Emma Lloyd coming in with the cup and this giant of a man standing in front of you. This cup was probably the size of me. You know, I just have that vivid memory from then, you know? And 2012 actually, myself and Irle McGowan were on the Caledonian Road in London. That's where we had to watch the final and I got all the drama students from the drama school that I was in and I got the ball down and they had the clue what was going on and I got them in just to help support and it was a great day and it was a great feeling, the 2012. You were saying there that it's a lovely story about a father-daughter relationship, but it's the one woman show and Louise Conaghan has the challenge and task of performing. So Louise, she's a Donegal woman, isn't she? Yes, she's just outside Boba Faye, the lovely Louise. She's excellent actor and she's bringing this play to life in an incredible way. She's got bags of humour, you know? She's done a lot of stuff with Ingrin and John Ruddy. The history of Ireland or the Manny Man does Ireland, the history of Ireland or whatever, something. I'm sorry about that, I'm not pronouncing the title correctly, but her comedy skills are incredible, but then this as well, she gets to flex her drama muscles and some beautiful, poignant moments and she's excellent. Yeah. And the story, she plays a lot of cars. So it's a father-daughter relationship, she said, but is there sadness and fun in this? That's the thing, there's a lot of humour and then there's these beautiful moments of pathos and anger and heartbreak, you know? And as with some relationships, you know, it's trying to find her father's approval and trying to get her father to notice her, you know, over that sibling rivalry of her brother, you know, and trying to be noticed, trying to be seen and that there's the eventual pull-away and hopefully the coming together again without ruining the plot. And to do a one-person show, it's challenging for the actor. Oh, yeah. And it's challenging for the director as well because there's nowhere to hide on stage and, you know, you have to think of the pace, you have to think of the variety just to keep the audience engaged. Did you find, I'm sure Louise found it difficult, but do you find it difficult as a director? Well, as a director, what my role is and any director's role is, is we are the audience. So we are the audience and as we're putting this together, we have to try and see what's that interest in and is that clear first and foremost and is it interest and is it trying to achieve what the script is trying to achieve? And so for me, it's basically that audience's view and helping Louise in and out of those characters and making sure that the transitions are clear and that the story shines through and not to be... And that's basically the role of the director. Louise is the heavy lifting here, there's no doubt. And she has a fortune of characters to make clear and also tell the heart of the story. And so, and traveling that thin line of comedy and drama without it spilling into something else. And she's doing that beautifully. And there's a cliff of her on the Greenham Facebook page and I think Kieran has it up on his Facebook page as well. And you can see it's like a light switch. She just goes from one character to the next and she does it extremely well. And it's only 30 seconds of a cliff, but it gives you a taste of what her characters are. Well, that's the taster of it. Yeah, that's exactly what's happening. She's switching from things to things, you know, from comedy to drama in an instant. And that's the real challenge and delight for an actor. You know, one person's show is for an actor one of the hardest things you can do. And it's also a very isolated and lonely place because, you know, you are isolated, you are on your own. So you've only yourself to rely on if things are not going, say, technically in the right direction or whatever. So very, very challenging thing for an actor, but and all these characters and the transitions and the humour, like she's got, she gets to play all these different characters from a version of David Attenborough to a movie trailer voice, you know, and the David Attenborough section, even Kieran's written a gorgeous line, which I laugh at every time. It's the homo erectus donigolis. It's absolute brilliance, you know, and that sequence is absolutely hilarious. And it's a professional production and on Greenon production. And you were telling me before we went on air that the set of the stage and everything is fantastic. Well, this is a professional production from Green Theatre and it's Kieran Kelly's first professional writing credit as a playwright and he's done a magnificent job. You know, Kieran's a very astute and very industrious writer, you know, I think he's one to watch for us to go on forward. I think he's going to be a real talent in the playwright. And I think he will hopefully take on that mantle, maybe, of Freeland in the future, you know. He's a very, very talented writer and this will not be his last, I'm sure. But the set looks fantastic. Everything's starting to shape up now. This is, for me, this is as a director. This is a very exciting time to be in. So we've just finished the run-throughs and now we're in doing the technical rehearsal, which is getting the lights together and making sure everything's the sound and the levels and all. This is a very exciting time now for me, the director. And then come Thursday, I do a thing called the handover and I, you know, my job's done and then it's over to Louise to take on, to take the play and go out and perform it, which she's no doubt going to do tremendously. So it's on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and I've done Green on Theatre and it's not, well, it's not a full play because it's a one-woman show. 70 minutes, you said? I, Kieran originally wanted it because he's very detailed. He wanted it to be around 70 minutes, 70 minutes precisely, because that's the length of a Gaelic football match. And now I've got it down to around maybe 60, 63 minutes. But actually, I'll be glad to tell now, as he's listening, we have made it now 70 minutes, Kieran, for you. And so it's now the length of a GIA football match and so that's a big reveal for you. And 8 o'clock starts, Patrick? Yes, indeed. 8 o'clock, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and I hope I'll see you there. Fantastic. Well, I don't think you have to be a GIA fan to go there if you love Donegal and you love a good play. I think that's two of the most important things. 100%. This is a love letter to Donegal. It's that feeling that euphoria that we got, that that brilliant 2012 team gave us as a whole county. We got that special feeling and it's the thing, it doesn't matter in 10 years, 20 years, 50 years time, if you're still living in well, that we'll never forget that moment and they give that to us, the Donegal team. So that's very, very special, you know? And even actually, there's a player on the Donegal team called Patrick McBrurty and he was made Donegal captain this week, you know? And then so I was getting texts from friends and stuff saying, hey, it's a big week for you, you open in a play and then I'm getting the captain say Donegal. But actually on the poster, I was tempted to put, I really wanted to put, you know, written by Ciaran Kelly, Starnal Louise, Conahan and written by Patrick McBrurty. No, not that one. And it's quite good that Patrick McBrurty is now the winner of Donegal and you are doing your direct in the play about their last order. Two new things for the one man. Well, thanks a million for taking time out this evening to come in. And the best of luck to you and to Louise and to Ciaran and myself and John will be there on Thursday night to clap his on and so looking forward to it. Thanks so much for having us and all the very best and hopefully I'll see you all there. Take care.