Padraic O Conaire

Padraic O Conaire cut such a colourful literary figure that the task of separating the man from the legend is an awesome one. Narrowly plinthed on Sister Eibhl∅n Ni Chionnaith's biography of the author, Diarmuid de Faoite's mesmerising one-man show proves that few things are as theatrically gripping as fact - as long as you don't let it get in the way of a good yarn.

De Faoite delves beneath the iconic status of the author and reveals a man of both creative brilliance and emotional fragility. He takes on a vast assortment of roles - from Michael Collins to Micheal Mac Liamoir - cleverly montaging the author's nationalist and socialist views with samples from his work.

O Conaire, whose oeuvre stands comparison with that of Maupassant, is regarded by many as the first professional Gaelic prose writer, yet it is thought that he earned no more than £700 from his work. His writings were also subject to an intellectual lynch mob, led by an tAthair Peadar O Laoghaire, and de Faoite's dramatisation of the correspondence that passed between him and other pillars of the Gaelic Revival is bellyachingly funny.

Equally illuminating is the author's lively debate with Liam O'Flaherty, a native Irish speaker from Inishmore, who chose to ply his trade in English, while O Conaire continued to plough a lonely furrow in Irish.

This is no hagiography though, but a warts-and-all account of a forgotten genius, a hopeless drunk and an inveterate sponger. Comic, tragic and wonderfully compassionate, Padraic O Conaire should not be missed.