Theatremaker David McGovern introduces his new show Shredder, an 'absurd reimagining of our information-heavy society', coming to this year's Dublin Fringe Festival.
In lieu of a shredder, my mother burned some papers recently. I asked her what, expecting bank statements and sensitive documents with numbers. "Things that aren't of interest to anyone else."
Sometimes it’s hard to let go of old stories. Sometimes it’s easy. Shredder centres on the act of letting go.
The show, of which I am writer and performer, serves as an antidote to the overwhelming, always-on nature of contemporary life. We weave between digital and physical encounters, always focused on reduction. On stage nothing is safe, with handwritten recipes, AI slop, fascist propaganda, personal essays and redundant screenshots all meeting their end. The sentimental, the troublesome and the mundane are shredded in the hope of achieving one thing: relief.
(Pic: David McGovern)
The show combats excess and accumulation. We know how it feels to enter a room of a hoarder – things piled up and a suffocating feeling – but we haven’t yet reckoned with a smartphone being a similar landscape. Hundreds of photos from a weekend away can make revisiting the memory feel burdensome, while a handful of images (or perhaps none at all) make for something more precious.
How can we rekindle lightness and play within a world of overwhelm?
While Shredder revels in destruction, it doesn’t do so needlessly. The show wants you to be selective about what you retain. Can you detach the memory from the object, knowing that if a precious keepsake is destroyed, the connection can live on? To rely on memory is fragile and fallible, but is also sublime and incredibly human.
(Pic: Brendan MacEvilly)
The hope is to return the audience to their senses. Our creative team (Anderson De Souza, Ois O'Donoghue, Colin Doran and Ultan de Stainléigh) are attuned to the body, striving against the numbness that can arise from large swathes of information or too much screen time. We want audiences to feel catharsis and release, and so we focus on sparse use of richly saturated images, satisfying sounds and crisp movement. The show is designed to feel light as a feather, taking joy in the shredding. It’s a show for everyone, whether you’re a regular theatregoer or curious to see something new.
Shredder shares some DNA with my 2022 Dublin Fringe show Corrupting Care, which platformed ways that people look after themselves that are unconventional and risky. It explored sex work, niche online communities and methods of re-igniting desire after extended illness. Both shows embrace our dark corners and are honest about meeting needs even when doing so is hard.
Since the show’s inception, I’ve had one main hope: upon leaving audiences would feel compelled to make one change to release the pressure. Perhaps it’s closing your tabs, perhaps it’s embracing the dumbphone. What can you let go of?
To shred is to be discerning. To shred is to take action. Live well and shred the rest.
Shredder runs 16–20 September at Project Arts Centre, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2025 - find out more here
