A series of poems set to compositions by the late Talos tackling this urgent issue are quirky, inventive and melodious
Talented: Emmet Kirwan in Accents. Photo: Ste Murray
This is a stirring piece of work. Writer/performer Emmet Kirwan turns a pivotal event in his life into art. The show is a series of poems centring around the birth of his first son. We meet the expectant dad having the jitters, “the boy is late”, as he is orbiting Holles Street while his beloved wife Ali is inside. Medical matters are getting complicated.
The next section flashes back to Kirwan’s parents and grandparents, and their lives in Dublin city centre; their move out to Tallaght as the new suburb was being built. All the time Kirwan interrogates the role of class, his perfect working-class grandad, his gran who taught herself how to play the piano. There is an intriguing section about Kirwan’s childhood friends. This is complex territory, like the amenity-devoid territory of Tallaght itself. About Ireland, he says: “There’s no famine here, but a famine in the minds.”
