I do believe that Ireland is the birthplace of humour. I do know that. I think the Irish have a much better sense of humour than the English and will enjoy this thoroughly.
Aw shucks! Maripat Donovan was obviously well schooled in the art of flattery by the nuns who taught her for 15 years. A native of Chicago, she is discussing how much she is looking forward to bringing her one-woman show, Late Night Catechism, to Ireland for an indefinite run at Dublin s Andrews Lane Theatre.
The central character of this international hit comedy is a nun, name unknown, who instructs her students (the audience) in Catechism classes, taking them back sometimes nostalgically, sometimes fearfully to their formative years. Over the course of the play, Sister goes from benevolent instructor, rewarding her students for correct answers with glow-in-the-dark rosaries and laminated saint cards, to authoritative drill sergeant. Such abrupt mood swings are bound to strike a chord with everyone who survived the so-called happiest days of your life with an omniscient authoritarian at the helm. Sister is disguised as all our parochial school teachers rolled into one dominating, sometimes terrifying, yet loveable religious woman.
In 1992 I was having dinner with some friends and I was telling funny stories about the lives of some of the saints and one of them said Y know, this is funn. You should do something with it , says Maripat.
In May of 1993 we opened the Late Night Catechism in Chicago. I had called my writing partner Vicki Quade and asked her if she wanted to work on it with me and she said Yes! We thought maybe we would run for six weeks, because there s so much theatre in Chicago, and here we are now in our seventh year.
It seems that Maripat is well qualified to wax lyrical on biblical matters. As well as being taught by nuns, she hails from a very religious background, spending an alarming chunk of her youth on her knees.
I was tremendously familiar with Catholicism, she concurs. As a child I went to Mass every day and then we said the rosary every night. It was all way too much for me. My mother was very religious, but also very well educated, so we would talk about St Thomas Aquinas at the dinner table. Religion was a huge part of our life.
Fear not bible-thumpers, this apparent resentment does not mean that those of you who find Tommy Tiernan offensive should steer a wide berth of Late Night Catechism. When I enquire about the show s blasphemy quotient, I am assured that there is no need for concern.
It s only respectful and loving, explains Maripat rather worryingly. You see, here s the thing about nuns. Because it s a play about them, people assume that it ll be like other plays about nuns who are psychopaths or who don t know how to take care of themselves. This character is a real religious person teaching an adult Catechism class. She just happens to be real funny. There s nothing sacrilegious and nothing factually incorrect. Nothing is made up, it s all real doctrine. I think that actually makes it harder to be funny . . . you know, the true and honest way, without deriding someone, without vulgarity, without any kind of disrespect. Late Night Catechism runs at Andrews Lane Theatre, Dublin, from Mon 22nd February.