Writer and actor John D Ruddy offers a brief history of his acclaimed show Manny Man Does the History of Ireland On Stage, which tours Ireland during February and March...
The history of Ireland is a mad place! With so many important moments, so many interesting characters, how do you condense it? Which parts do you highlight? Which figures do you bring to the forefront? And how do you present it all so it doesn’t become a 70-minute boring history lesson?
Such were the challenges when I adapted Manny Man Does the History of Ireland for the stage! It is indeed an adaptation of a book, which is an adaptation of a YouTube video. I made the video Irish History in 6 Minutes in 2013, which launched my unexpected career as a YouTuber!
I remember the first day I uploaded the video and the views began to steadily grow. It hit 1,000 views and I was amazed. It hit over 9,000 views and I got very excited! More and more people watched (and subscribed) as the video was shared across Ireland.
On the back of that instigation, I began doing more global videos about the likes of World Wars 1 & 2, the Cold War, the American, French and Russian Revolutions and the views across the world continued to come - but I always kept Irish history idling in the background. I’d often try to work in a reference to Irish history in other videos, but then of course 2016 arrived. I always try and launch my videos at relevant times when I can. My Russian Revolution video was online in time for the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution; my Napoleonic Wars video was launched on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo; and so, with 2016 being the massive year in Ireland as it was, I created The Easter Rising in 8 Minutes, and it became the most viewed video on YouTube about The Rising.
On the back of this, I approached The Collins Press about the potential of bringing Manny Man into book form and thus Manny Man Does the History of Ireland was released towards the end of 2016, and the subsequent Manny Man Does Revolutionary Ireland: 1916-1923 in 2017.
On the back of these books, Patricia McBride, director of Letterkenny's An Grianán Theatre, approached me about adapting the history of Ireland for the stage. And with the support of An Grianán and the Gap Day initiative led by Lian Bell with Mermaid, I began writing Manny Man Does the History of Ireland On Stage! It was an interesting writing process, given the very different nature of the stage! Writing the YouTube video was very straight forward, condensing entire periods of Irish History into a simple sentence or two. Adapting this into a book was similarly uncomplicated, beyond setting the structure for each page, it was simply a matter of expanding the details, using the YouTube script as the bare bones, the book added meat to the skeleton!
The play, on the other hand, required a very different approach. It couldn’t just be a relentless barrage of narration which the YouTube video does for 6 minutes. The play needed to hold the audience’s attention for well over 6 minutes and also needed to incorporate the tongue-in-cheek humour I include visually in my illustrations. I needed a focus, and it turns out, they had been with me all along! Before the books, before the videos, Manny Man’s first iteration on the internet was a webcomic back in 2010. I would poke fun at pop culture, politics and explore simple absurd humour.
The history of Ireland is a mad place! With so many important moments, so many interesting characters, how do you condense it?
Two figures would often emerge to carry the jokes. One would be the out-and-out cynic, rolling his eyes at cheesy jokes; the other would be the out-and-out optimist, making said cheesy jokes, for example; the optimist would enter, large smile on his face, with a bearded fellow and a banana skin. He’d say to the cynic "Hey, this is my friend Sigmund Freud" and proceed to look heavily at the banana skin. The cynic pushes them out of the comic panel "Nope!! You’re not making those kind of jokes here!" So when it came to find the vehicle to present Irish History on the stage, I realised that these two figures were my main characters; Syn and Oppy.
I had worked with Louise Conaghan before in a few projects: Louise is one of the funniest people I know and I knew her clowning skills and comedic energy would be perfect for Oppy. I took up the role of Syn, who carries the brunt of the historical exposition. Once I had those characters in place, the play almost wrote itself, with Irish History as its structural skeleton. In the end, Syn and Oppy ended up playing about 50 characters each, including Hugh O’Donnell, Hugh O’Neill, Oliver Cromwell, William of Orange, Daniel O’Connell, Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera, to name but a few.
We forget that history is our story, the story of where we have come from...
With Louise, director Rachael Devir and stage manager Jude Barriscale, Manny Man Does the History of Ireland On Stage really came to life and became a physical, energetic whirlwind of a play - while maintaining the visual, unique hand-drawn style of Manny Man. Reactions to the play, when we first performed it in the 2017 Earagail Arts Festival, were very positive. It was wonderful to hear the reaction of the audience, with such a mix of ages, families being able to enjoy the history of Ireland together in a fun and entertaining way.
When I wrote this play, I wanted to make sure that the audience were first and foremost entertained; the history would be the added bonus. History is such an important thing for us to experience. In a country where teenagers are no longer required to engage with history in secondary level education, and in a world where more and more people are beginning to doubt what the truth is as they are gaslit by the powers that be... it is so important that we can explore history together.
And history is best when told as a story. Too often it is killed by lists of dates and names. We forget that history is our story, the story of where we have come from. It is the story of human beings, making human decisions, making human mistakes and indeed sometimes veering into the inhumane. In the mad age of the internet, I’ve set it as my responsibility to try and communicate history to as many people as possible. I seek to do this through the play too; to get people, adults and children, talking about it, and having a laugh while doing so. The more we can learn from history, the more we can try to avoid the mistakes of the past… so we best get learning quickly!!!!
Manny Man Does the History of Ireland On Stage is touring at various venues across Ireland during February and March - find out more here.
