What Good is Looking Well When You’re Rotten on the Inside? (2017)

by Emma O'Grady & Paddy O’Grady

One month before his death, retired civil servant and man of few words Paddy O’Grady had a sudden urge to talk. Using a portable cassette tape recorder, he recorded 15 hours of material: stories about leprechauns, aliens and lonely pharmacists; absurdist political satire; musings on life, love and death; radio shows with advertisements for products that never existed; ballads and poetry; and memories of life as a civil servant.

Paddy’s granddaughter, Emma O’Grady, later discovered he had written plays, poems and short stories in the 1950s and until now his work has been without an audience. This one-woman show - created with multiple directors - examines the fractured and fragile personas we present to the world, who we might be behind them and what we could be instead. What Good is Looking Well When You’re Rotten on the Inside? is about emotional inheritance and grief for wasted creativity that serves as both a tribute and a warning.

My grandfather Paddy O’Grady died in 1998. He lived with us growing up. One month before he died he went into a room on his own and recorded himself. When he died he left behind 15 hours of material on cassette tape. I started working on this show in 2013 and finally produced it in 2017 through a Theatre Project award from the Arts Council. It premiered at Galway Theatre Festival and later that year took it to the Dublin Fringe Festival. In 2018 it got an Arts Council Touring Award which supported a 15-venue Irish tour. In 2019 the show won the Bealtaine Touring Award and we brought it to 5 venues. For Bealtaine we also had the support of Arts and Disability Ireland (ADI) and were able to provide a pre-show Touch Tour and a captioned performance.

This show is available to tour.

Supported by the Arts Council and Galway County Council

"...a striking piece of theatrical work." - Reviews Hub

“A charming meditation on inheritance” – Peter Crawley, Irish Times

"...a compelling, bravura performance."- Galway Advertiser

"... beautifully realised..." - Reviews Hub

"...This is a play about family, but also about individuality. It makes for a great story." - Reviews Hub

“… extremely charming, well-executed, and leaves one feeling there is slightly more good in the world than beforehand.” – Reviews Hub

“...stellar performance...” – Meg.ie