A show to really help the medicine go down!
Like the first person to pull a beet from the soil and say, 'I can make sugar out of that', Cork writer and actor Michael Patric has created a sweet and hilarious new show pulled from a world most of us have never even thought about.
That world is Ireland’s fading sugar industry and Patric’s new one-man show ‘Sugar’ is set right at the heart of its downfall, in amongst the machines and the vats of Ireland's very last sugar factory in Mallow.
You might know Patric from 2022’s globally acclaimed, Oscar nominated film ‘An Cailín Ciúin’, an Irish coming-of-age drama based on the 2010 short story ‘Foster’ by Claire Keegan.
He has also starred in Netflix historical drama ‘Frontier’, and Irish drama ‘Smother’ on RTÉ One.
Directed by Geoff Gould, ‘Sugar’ follows the lovably candid Danyl Sweetnam as he describes his last days as an employee at Mallow sugar factory which closed its doors in 2006 after almost 80 years in operation.
“You must have the craic. I don’t trust any fella who can’t have d’aul craic,” is Danyl’s fitting mantra as he paints his sometimes sweet, sometimes sticky picture.
It’s 2006 and Danyl is finding the going tough. His marriage is falling apart, his job is in jeopardy, and then there’s a family bereavement. Rather than letting it all defeat him though, Danyl decides to laugh his way through it.
Contrary to the stereotypical Irish male who finds it difficult to talk about his problems, Danyl will bare all to anyone, anywhere, anytime – his fear, his grief, his family, and even his sex life – nothing’s off the table for Danyl.
One thing that is clear is his deep love and respect for his work colleagues. They have taught him the value of laughing at the serious stuff. He will tell us with pride how they fought against the company to win a fair redundancy settlement in the Labour Court. Indeed, this fight mirrors his own personal fight with tragedy and loss.
“If you can keep smiling at all, you have hope,” says Danyl.
The process of making sugar from beets involves creating a syrup from the juice of the root which is then recrystalised. In ‘Sugar’, Patric has extracted the sweet essence of fun and comradery from a bygone Irish industry and recrystalised it into a laugh-a-minute production with a huge heart.
‘Sugar’ is coming to the Cork Arts Theatre on Carroll's Quay from 19-23 November. Tickets cost €20 and €15 concession. For more info and booking, visit corkartstheatre.com.