AM I IRISH YET? SAINT PATRICK'S WEEK TOUR

On St Patrick's Day the whole world wants to be Irish. Green beer, shamrocks in the White House, silly green hats and leprechauns. The thing is I don't want to be Irish just on March 17th. I want to be Irish all the time - like the other 364 days of the year - because I am Irish. Except I speak with an English accent because I was born and brought up in the UK. And that is a problem. Or some people, the so called Irish-Irish, make it my problem.
'Are you over here visiting?'
''No, I live here? Like for the last 35 years'
'Well you're not from around here? Not with accent like that?'
Sometimes I just want to reach into their beige cardigan and grab their bra straps and wrap them around their necks.
But instead I just smile and nod. Until one day I got sick of apologising for being part of the Great Second Generation Irish Tribe. Those of us born to the vast numbers of emigrant Irish who Ireland has been heamoragging for centuries. Born and bred elsewhere - the UK, USA, Canada, Australia - all over the world - we come with foreign accents, often mixed ethnicities but our Irishness endures in our hearts and hertage. Finally - I woke up and decided I was fed up trying to fit in in Ireland by being their version of Irish and embrace my own UK Irish heritage. I might not be Irish enough for some feckers here but, for me, I am ALL Irish 365 days of the year. Just like you. And that's why I decided to write my play AM I IRISH YET? And do a St Patrick's Day Tour to the north of England. Being Irish is far too precious, too wonderful, just to celebrate on one day of the year even if you speak with the 'wrong' accent. So I do hope you can come and join me at my shows to celebrate our Irishness together. After all - wasn't St Patrick himself born in Britain!
PERFORMANCES
March 7th – Liverpool Irish Centre – 2:30pm & 8pm
March 8th – Birmingham Diggity’s Bar and Diner – 2:30pm & 7:30pm
March 9th – Manchester Irish World Heritage Centre – 2:30pm & 8pm
March 10th - Wigan Brian Boru Club - 7.30
March 11th – Warrington Irish Club – 7:30pm
March 12th - Leeds Irish Centre - 7.30pm
March 13th - Manchester Irish Festival Village - 7.30pm
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/am-i-irish-yet
Kevin Toolis Circus250 Irish World Heritage Centre Consulate General of Ireland, Manchester Leeds Irish CentreLiverpool Irish CentreBrian Boru Club - EST 1889Irish Society LiverpoolIrish in Britain