“I wasn't cut out for the undertaking business,” says singing undertaker Mossey Burke, who, having reluctantly inherited his father's line of work, yearns for a better suited career in the hotel or catering industry. Burke regales us with tales of a compliant youth spent camping with his father in the back garden in body bags, or being sent along to play golf with the local doctor whose ailments may prove deadly. “Good for our business, not his," advises Burke Sr.
Selfie, part of Origin Theatre Company's 1st Irish Festival, is a show comprised of characters who address members of the audience with such familiarity that the construct of a community invented by writer/performer Pat Shortt feels unquestionably real. A local newspaper photographer inadvertently fills us in on the local gossip as he weaves in and out of the audience, taking pictures and being an artful nuisance. Meanwhile, a gasping garda (policeman) warns that if you don't want to get burgled, you shouldn't leave your windows open, and whoever has lost the €32 that was delivered to the barracks should come in and collect the €20 left over. His 'resuscitation' of a poem from the gardai poetry contest called “You Can't Be Doing That” is particularly memorable.
Pat Shortt is a household name in Ireland owing to, amongst many other things, his comedy duo D'Unbelievables, appearances in Father Ted and his starring role in the movie Garage, which won him the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actor. Shortt was last seen on this side of the pond in Martin McDonagh's multiple Tony Award nominated Broadway play The Cripple of Inishmaan with Daniel Radcliffe.
Top of the Selfie highlights list is Mossey Burke's reliving of a dark dark day in undertaking, the Slattery funeral, in which the audience become funeral attendees. Some of us may be at the wrong funeral, but it's Mossey Burke's exasperated job to put us in our positions, be it pallbearer or giving out sandwiches. As the proceedings turn more chaotic and overlap into the interval, the loss of the singing undertaker's professional reputation is our gain in entertainment. Shortt has a way with his audience and it's all in the details. Participation can often be a painful thing but not here. The notorious gaiety of an Irish funeral is played out so convincingly that it's easy to forget the division between performer and observer. The Irish Arts Center in Hell's Kitchen, a significant venue amid the theaters taking part in Origin's 1st Irish Festival, has succeeded in providing Shortt with the freedom and good-natured environment necessary for him to raise the roof with great craic, well crafted characters and songs and an overall sense of inclusive mischief.
