Writer: Conor Burke
Director: Lianne O’Shea
It is hot and cramped in the Glass Mask Theatre at the rear of The Bestseller Café and people are fanning themselves and sipping wine when the lights dim and Gleek of the Week begins.
On a screen at the back a young Conor is celebrating 20 youtube subscribers as he talks about his favourite colour being gamboge and his favourite show: Glee. It switches off and we see Conor, 30, in his dressing gown and painfully embarrassed by his past career as a youtuber. Still in his childhood bedroom with fluffy cloud wallpaper and stars on the curtains, he is packing up in preparation to move … to his sisters’ old bedroom. Well, it’s not that much of a surprise. As he says, a pandemic and housing crisis mean that he is lucky to be moving at all and has anyone’s life really turned out to be a vibrant and dramatic as the teenage them thought it would be? Even the first few lines have the audience laughing and this continues to the end.
We go on a journey with Conor to when he was 17, closeted, at an all boys school in Newbridge and secretly idolising Rachel Berry from Glee. It is worth noting here that those who have not seen Glee need not fear. Aside from the fact that there are enough details and guidance from Conor to fully understand every reference, it is not about Glee. Or at least not entirely. It is about learning to let hope in and, like in the show, and like Rachel Berry, being true to you whether it is popular or not.
Conor, always trying to skip PE (“I’m not emotionally available”) and debating whether or not to enter the school talent contest, finds he is constantly coming up against ultra macho school bully Jimmy Joyce. They are paired on a project where they have to talk about their favourite piece of media and explain how it changed their life. For Conor there is no question that he is going to pick “the gayest show ever”, 2010s hit Glee. When he talks about how it impacted him, giving him hope during the difficult teenage years, showing him that it is ok to embrace yourself and find the thing you love, it became something that mattered deeply to him. It is about being ‘unapologetically oneself’. Maybe that is harder for bully Jimmy than Conor had ever considered?
The set is detailed and designed to be flexible. One particularly neat touch is that the blinds roll up and turn into a classroom whiteboard to help demark the change in location.
The writing is top class and doesn’t dip once. Full of relatable nuggets and laughs, it will engage even the most cynical in the audience. The songs (lyrics by Shauna Carrick) are funny and move the narrative forward. Conor Burke is the only actor on stage and his energy and presence remain throughout. His voice projection is terrific throughout. He is clear and precise even at the back of the room. A microphone, very well hidden, helps his voice during the songs but for the most part it is not needed. A consummate performer: A* from beginning to end, the standing ovation was well earned and the 80 or so minutes flew by.
The programme was scattered about the room. Unlike the usual offering, it was a QR code leading one to a digital programme that contains all of the information about the production one can need. This is the first time this reviewer has seen a programme like this and let’s hope it becomes popular. What a great idea!
Runs Until 12th Sept 2026.
