Artistic Statement

Growing up I was always making everyone laugh, this felt good. I loved taking the limelight with a good joke or story, dreaming it could be my job one day.

As I got into my teens this passion faded and had completely disappeared by my 20’s. I found myself in Dublin, working in an office and very unhappy. I left to backpack around New Zealand and South America. On my travels I began to feel a great sense of freedom and it reignited my creative side. When I came home I signed up to do 5 mins in a local comedy club in Galway. While it was terrifying, I did feel a sense of belonging and that I was taking the first steps on a journey. To help me find my voice, I decided to do a drama course. For my end of year piece I performed four monologues about my life growing up in rural Ireland being very disgruntled about the gender separation of boys and girls. I went from there to write a complete show which premiered at Dublin’s International Gay Theatre Festival in 2013. The show that followed premiered at the 2015 Dublin Tiger Fringe and has enjoyed two separate runs at the Cork Arts Theatre this year.

I am inspired by the collective consciousness of my generation. Mary Robinson’s speeches, Packie’s right hand, the magic door... I love using old archive footage to add some nostalgia to my shows. I co-founded a comedy troupe named Laughter She Wrote and we hope to add a much needed female voice and perspective through sketches and plays.

I grew up on a farm in a big family so this influences my work. I have a great passion for the land and rural Ireland. I grew up listening to old yarns. My father is a great storyteller. I want to help nurture and grow the tradition of Irish storytelling for a new generation and represent this part of Irish culture abroad and be funny enough to get the seat next to the fire. The essence of my work is to make people laugh.

I am convinced that the culture of comedy has to mature in Ireland. The fact that I’ve heard the statement ‘women aren’t funny’ more times than I care to remember is shocking. I want to challenge this assumption and research the reasons why this is still heard in 21st century Ireland. I hope to use the theatre to achieve this through collaborations with like-minded professionals.

Through my work I want to explore the ‘craic culture’ and earn my place in it. To me ‘craic culture’ is an innate Irishness and enthusiasm for the arts, entertainment and having a good laugh. I want to go back to basics, learn how to clown, be the jester and keep developing my comic voice through the development of theatre shows while representing the rural female voice in Ireland today and becoming financially independent in the process.