08 February 2012 (Comedy Interview)

Words: Robin Murray

Knowing next to nothing about hurling, I met Kevin McCormack, co-writer of The All Star Wars (who also acts the lead role) and actor, Richie Hayes, backstage at Dublin's Olympia Theatre to talk about the GAA comedy musical. (Yes, you read that correctly).

First of all, I have to ask what inspired you to write a musical based on All-Ireland Hurling?
Kevin: I'll start by saying that first and foremost, it's a comedy - it just happens to have some off-the-wall production numbers in it. As for my reason, I felt there was a need for it - there was an opening for it. I'd seen Alone It Stands four times and I Keano a couple of times, so I thought 'Why is nobody doing this with GAA?' I thought I'd fill that niche. As it happened, Brian Flynn had the same thought around the same time, and we got talking about it once and that was it - that was how it started.

Could you briefly give me the plot of All Star Wars? Not the ending, obviously!
K: We meet the central character, a guy called Hugh Cullen who's an overweight, over-ambitious 42-year-old junior B hurler, who's never amounted to much as a sportsman and never will at this stage, but he's got the club at heart. The show opens with him on the pitch on a Sunday morning with his Junior B teammates. During training he gets knocked on the head from the business end of a hurley and it all unfolds from there; it's almost like the Wizard of Oz where he goes on this epic journey where he's the sole saviour hurling's future.
He's visited from Obi Wan Camogie who tells him that he's a descendant of Cúchulainn and he needs to stop King Henry of the Shefflin Order from winning his 1,000th All-Ireland, so he goes a thousand years into the future. Then in a similar style to the Wizard of Oz, you're introduced to all the different characters, his friends and family all appear as different characters, and then there's a big surprise at the end when you find out who actually saves the day in the end.

I must confess, I don’t follow hurling myself, would someone like me be lost watching the show?
K: No, and I'm glad you asked me that, because I've had people from all different walks of life that would have no interest in GAA at all or any knowledge of it. One example is my cousin who comes from Preston (Lancashire) - who in terms of sport would follow Preston football club and that would be it - who came to the show and loved it. The way I put it is if you go to this show you get 100% bang for your buck, but if you happen to be a hurling or a GAA fan, you get an extra 50% for free.

Looking at a blurb for the show, I read that in order to save the future of hurling the protagonist is told he must 'propogate his seed by laying with Lady GAA GAA'. That makes her sound like something out of alien! Is she a frightening creature?
K: No no, she is almost the Princess Leia character in all this. As with all the characters, Lady GAA GAA is just a play on words, it's not actually based on Lady Gaga.

With the wacky plot, pop culture references and musical numbers, the show almost sounds like a panto. Is it an all-ages show or is there some bold stuff in there?
K: It's an all-ages show but the thing is, if you've ever been to a GAA match you're going to have heard some colourful language coming from the stands and the terraces, and there is a bit of that, but nothing too bad. Really it's a panto for adults because it is so off-the-wall; it's verbal, it's visual, it motors along and a lot of the humour is very quick, a few double entendres in there, but all that goes over the heads of kids.
Richie: There's no 'He's behind you!'
K: No - we don't encourage audience participation!

Speaking of pantos, Richie, you're no stranger to them. How does performing in this show compare with doing Robinson Crusoe in the Gaiety?
R: There's elements of the comedy stuff that I would use in the Gaiety but as I said, there's no talking to the audience, it's more serious comedy, as I call it, rather than the pratfalls and slapstick stuff. Actually, the reason we stopped doing the show for a while was because most of the cast, if not all, are involved in panto.
But this isn't panto, it's a very high-energy show and we don't see our dressing room from the time the curtain comes up till the interval. Most of us are playing multiple characters and the changes are so quick that the corridor is our dressing room and we are literally dripping with sweat at the end of the night but that’s all good cos you know you’re doing a good job and the reaction from the audience has been phenomenal every time we've done it.
R: Another thing we've noticed from being on the road is that it's a different kind of theatre crowd that are going to it, because a lot of staunch GAA people would never think of going to a theatre. You come along and you forget about all the sh*** that's going on in the country and celebrate something that makes us who we are. We've one of the best sports in the world, and the fastest on grass.

There's famous faces in the show such as Tomás Mulcahy and Marty Morrissey; what was their reaction when you first asked them to be in the show?
K: They jumped at it. The ultimate prize for us, in terms of getting somebody attached to it, was Micheál Ó'Muircheartaigh who narrates the show. There's an epic scene at the end where they take on the Cat Commandos and Micheál is constantly running commentary through it which really authenticates it and makes it like a real-life hurling match.
We were thrilled to to get him on board and also that Marty Morrissey came on board, and was game to have bit of a laugh at himself as well.
R: Marty’s mammy went to see it in Clare - she loved it.

Was it always your intention to get stars from the world of hurling in the show, rather than having actors play them?
K: Both things happen, we have Marty Morrissey and Tomás Mulcahy on VT but their alter-egos are also on stage in this dream journey that Hugh goes on.
Someone on the radio described it as the D'Unbelievables meets Monty Python meets the Wizard of Oz, so that kinda sums it up.

The show also has girl power in the form of Chix with Stix - what role do they play in the show?
K: They are the ensemble, we've a big cast of people playing multiple roles, and that goes for the girls who are all professional dancers as well as playing cameo parts in it from the local bean-garda to Miss Bally-Go-Backwards.
R: They make all us hairy auld fellas look good as well.
K: That's true, when you've got me at 19 and a half stone in a jersey that's too tight, it's good to have something else to distract from that!

The show was first performed in Cork Opera House last April, has the show changed or been updated since then?
K: The show has evolved a bit from there. Brian and myself when we were watching the show decided there were parts of it that we wanted to tweak. By the time we played Cork in December, it was a bit like Daz washing powder in that it was a new and improved formula.
We haven't done a performance yet where we haven't got a standing ovation and we’ve even had a couple of nights when the audience has been on their feet ten minutes before the show finished. We're interested to see how it will work here in Dublin.

Are there plans for more instalments in the saga? A trilogy perhaps?
K: There has been a little bit of work gone into The Umpire Strikes Back.
R: Tell him the main difference between I Keano and this.
K: I Keano was never this funny.

All Star Wars is on in The Olympia Theatre, Dame St. until Sunday the 12th of February. Tickets cost €30 and can be bought from the Olympia box office or Ticketmaster.

 

 

Back to Comedy Exclusives