The Keano Edge

Dessie Gallagher sounds positively inspired as he sits in his dressing room less than an hour before going on stage in his role as Macartacus in I, Keano.

And why shouldn’t he? Not only has Gallagher himself received rave reviews for his performance in Arthur Matthews and Michael Nugent’s musical comedy, the production itself even got five stars in a London newspaper, “Which bodes well for a London run” says Gallagher. In other words, this is a dream team in every sense.
But beneath all the in-your-face madcap humour and gentle satire that gives I, Keano, its surface appeal, there is a Shakespearean element to this tale – and not only in the way Macaratcus is finally knifed in the back by the FAI, a la Julius Caesar. Gallagher agrees that the two main players on this particular stage are tragic heroes, both undone by their fatal human flaws. The characters of course are based on Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane respectively. But have either seen the production?
“No, but Roy Keane did say he heard it’s very good and that he would go to see it in Manchester if he got tickets,” says Dessie. “McCarthy was offered tickets for the opening night but never made it, so we’ve no sense what he would think of it at all.”
So what does he think McCarthy might learn from I, Keano?
"One thing the reaction to I Keano has shown is that we all can take a step backwards now and laugh at the whole situation in relation to Saipan, which, of course wasn’t always the case. So I’d love McCarthy to be able to take a step back, because I suspect he still feels that from an Irish point of view his head is on a plate and he’s been left out to dry.
"But what happened then was fascinating; two of the most powerful people on the world stage of football, in prominent positions, going, ‘I’m not going to apologise’, which made it a farce to begin with. But you have to laugh at it all now.”
But what, to Dessie, are the fatal flaws that led to the undoing of Mick McCarthy?
“In a Shakespearean sense, there is the fact that he let his greatest warrior go home because of a personal issue, and that is the fatal flaw in his character which is at the heart of the situation,” he responds.
“He let those personal issues interfere with his job as a manager. When it arose he couldn’t backtrack, so it grew bigger and led to his undoing.”
Couldn’t the same be said of Keane, in that he allowed the personal issue of his antipathy towards McCarthy lead to his undoing and, ultimately, to that of the Irish team and Ireland during the World Cup?
“There is the argument that he let things become personal, and you have to ask, can you go to your manager and speak to him, address him the way he did," says Dessie.
"But that brings us into the arena of who you think is right and who you think is wrong, and where Macartacus is concerned. I think he let a personal situation affect his management skills.
"No manager in his right mind would let the most powerful person on his team go home. At the end of the day your job, as manager, is to get your team working at its peak, even if that means sacrificing things.
"I do have a certain amount of sympathy for this character, and he does end up like Julius Caesar, that’s for sure. But that’s one of the things that’s great about I, Keano. It even takes the piss out of Shakespeare. And part of the joy in playing Macartacus is that he is written as a larger than life Shakespearean general or king, but it’s pushed to such a gloriously ridiculous degree.”
Gloriously ridiculous kinds sums up I, Keano, doesn’t it?
“Totally, and one the best things about it all is that the audience is in on the joke,” Dessie concludes. “From the moment the curtain goes up they are part of it all and it’s that energy that makes I, Keano such a delight to work in.”

I, Keano is currently playing at Dublin’s Olympia.