Abroad

In New York people ask me to pronounce words in an Irish accent. I’m taking it seriously

The way I say some words amuses my friends here. But Americans aren’t always the best at pronouncing my name — or realising when I’m winding them up

Derry Girls: the Channel 4 show is one of the few Irish comedies that Americans are aware of

Seamus O'Farrell
Mon Sep 5 2022 - 02:00

American friends always ask me how to say things in an Irish accent. They’re highly amused by the way I pronounce “vitamins”, “aluminium” and “car”. And my voice teacher here says the Irish accent has an inflection that makes everything sound like a question. So anytime I make a statement I now doubt myself: did that sound more like a question, I wonder.

Turn the tables, though, and the beauty of the Irish accent is that its musicality makes it so pleasant on the ears that people don’t always realise when you’re teasing them, or winding them up. And I always laugh to myself when I order coffee, as our names can be tricky for the American tongue to navigate. What will I be called today, I wonder. The best I’ve heard so far is See-moose. Nice try for Seamus. I did a skit about that one in my comedy show.

Our countries’ interaction has a long history, of course: more than 30 million people in the US claim Irish ancestry. Between 1915 and 1920, as the Gotham Center for New York City History chronicles, three companies – the Irish Theatre of America, the Celtic Players and the Irish Players – tried to establish an “Irish national theatre” here. But they were short-lived: what worked in Ireland did not work in New York. Americans of the time, particularly Irish Americans, preferred rosier portrayals of the Emerald Isle than those offered by the Irish Theatre of America.

I was a child of the peace process. I recall being in the playground one day when a bomb went off in the post office. To calm us down the teacher told us the noise was just ‘giant’s footsteps’. That was reassuring to a five-year-old: a giant on the loose was far less perturbing than a bomb

Now the Irish Repertory Theatre, which was founded in 1988, is the only Irish theatre active for the whole year in New York City. But at least tastes have changed, and audiences are willing to watch more realistic portrayals of life both rural and urban in modern Ireland. The Ferryman, by Jez Butterworth, and Cyprus Avenue, by David Ireland, each set in Northern Ireland and dealing with its politics, both ran in New York before the pandemic, for example.

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I was a child of the peace process – a lot of my stand-up is about my experiences growing up. I recall being in the school playground one day when a bomb went off in Dungannon post office and the teacher had to try to get a yardful of infants back inside. To calm us down she told us the noise was just “giant’s footsteps”. That was reassuring to a five-year-old: a giant on the loose was far less perturbing than a bomb.

Generally speaking, Irish television comedy has yet to cross to the US: many people here can name British shows yet struggle to think of an Irish one. Some know about Derry Girls, but even Father Ted mostly draws a blank. This hasn’t stopped me from showing it to my friends in the Big Apple – where, may I say, it has been very well received.

Seamus O’Farrell

I’ve been promoting Irish culture in other ways, too. In March, for Irish-American Heritage Month – an official event backed by Congress and the US president – I put together an evening celebrating Irish-American culture, with Seamus Heaney’s poetry, scenes from contemporary and classic Irish plays, and, to finish the evening, some stand-up.

To round off the month, I was honoured to give a presentation about Irish theatre and comedy in the US at Lincoln University, a historically black college in Pennsylvania. Struggle and creativity are common to Irish and African Americans, so I was privileged to talk about those themes at the United States’ first historically black university to grant degrees. Regular Manhattan stand-up gigs continue as I prepare to bring the show on the road to Chicago, Washington, DC, Boston and Philadelphia.

I was also recently approached to help an actor perform a monologue in an Irish accent. It’s a perfect opportunity to fill a gap in the market, so I’ll soon start to teach a workshop on the Irish accent here in New York. Life here moves pretty fast, and I’m excited for the opportunities and the laughs to come.

If you live overseas and would like to share your experience with Irish Times Abroad, email abroad@irishtimes.com with a little information about you and what you do

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