Emer Dineen spoke to David Hennessy ahead of THISISPOPBABY’s WAKE coming to London’s West End and Manchester.
Acclaimed Irish theatre company THISISPOPBABY are coming to London’s West End and Manchester with their show, WAKE.
After two sold-out, award-winning runs in Dublin’s National Stadium, WAKE makes its London debut at the Peacock Theatre, Sadler’s Wells home of entertainment before travelling to Manchester’s Aviva Studios, home of Factory International.
The show, like the ritual it takes its name from, is a celebration of life.
It brings together customs and club anthems for a night filled with aerial artistry, Irish tap, cabaret, slam poetry, pole dancing and more to create an anthemic spectacle with the spirit of an epic trad session and the energy of a stadium concert.
Co-created and co-directed by THISISPOPBABY’s Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon, and designed by Niall Sweeney, the show subverts the rites and structure of a traditional Irish wake to create a club culture infused frenzy of ritual, rave, grief and joy.
Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon said: ‘We cannot wait to bring this bold, ambitious, fabulous juggernaut of a show to London and Manchester. WAKE thrilled audiences in Ireland, and now it’s only fair that we bring the joy to these shores and see what your audiences are made of. I’m sure they know how to party, so we say let’s raise the roof together!.’
The Irish Times said: “Think Riverdance for the Club Queens.”
Joe.ie added: “One of the best things you’ll experience all year.”
The cast features singer and performer Adam Matthews, composer, sound designer, keys player, singer and music director Alma Kelliher, accordion player and traditional musician Darren Roche, dancer and choreographer Deirdre Griffin, London based Irish actor and singer Emer Dineen, breakdancer Cristian Dirocie, drummer Ryan McClelland, poet and performer Felicia Olusanya, Kerry dancer and singer Jade O’Connor, world champion pole artist Lisette Krol, traditional musician and fiddle player Lucia McPartlin, American Irish dancer Michael Roberson, aerialist Jenny Tufts and choreographer and dancer Philip Connaughton.
The Irish World spoke to London- Irish actress/ playwright Emer Dineen ahead of the show’s upcoming UK dates.
London- Irish actress, playwright and all round performer Emer Dineen has been named as one of Hot Press’ hot for 2025.
2024 was a big year for Emer.
She premiered her play 0800- Cupid, also a THISISPOPBABY production, at Dublin Theatre Festival. The piece has since travelled to Soho Theatre in London.
What can people expect from the show, WAKE?
“It’s just an unforgettable night out.
“It’s an electrifying Irish variety phenomenon that remixes Irish tradition with a high octane heart thumping celebration of life.
“There’s tap dancing, aerial, comedy, pole dancing, poetry, everything you can possibly want and more is packed into this show.
“We cannot wait to have you and see you there and we’ll open our sweaty arms for our run at Sadler’s Wells and Aviva Studios.”
How would you describe it to someone who hasn’t seen it?
“I think it’s a really unique and special mix.
“There’s something so grounded in traditional Irish art, so connected, so kind of elemental where you can’t help but stamp your feet when you hear good trad. It’s so spiriting and spirited and when you start to infuse contemporary culture, the eclectic mix of disciplines that we all have, gold hot pants and some nipple tassels, the alchemy of all of those things is so rich and so deep.
“I love doing this show.
“Our musical director Alma once phrased it, ‘It’s something that dances fiercely and fearlessly in the face of grief’.
“It’s built around an Irish wake which is not only to commemorate the loss of someone, but also to celebrate the life of someone.
“It’s fearless and it’s alive.
“Both being part of the show and watching the show reminds me of what it is to be human.”
How did you get involved with the show?
“I went to go and play Beyond the Pale and that’s where Jenny Jennings saw my Duncan Disorderly act.
“It was maybe one of my first cabaret gigs in Ireland and there was two people in the tent for my performance and one of them was my uncle and one of them was my friend that I brought with me.
“So I was like, ‘Okay, let’s go’.
“But then I started getting into it playing some tunes, dropping some bangers and the tent started filling up and then it started popping off.
“There were people everywhere and I think Jenny Jennings caught that and was like, ‘Okay, how might we fold this into this thing that we’re making?’
“And then I got a phone call asking if I wanted to be involved in this.
“Obviously there was only one answer.”
How are the rehearsals going? You’ve been involved with this show since 2022..
“I still remember the first rehearsal day so vividly.
“We had this cluster of phenomenal Irish artists scattered from across the world in this boxing gym all kind of looking at each other like, ‘What are we gonna do?’
“And from that moment, every iota of creativity, talent, inspiration, joy, blood, sweat and tears has just culminated in something truly magic.
“I think the fact that each individual has played a part and has made a creative investment in the show- This has truly been such a collaborative piece where everyone has brought not only their skill set, their discipline, their medium, their craft to the forefront, also just their humanity, their grief and their lived experience.
“It’s so generous.
“The show is so generous.
“It’s so giving and both as a performer and as someone viewing it, you feel so held in the intensity of feeling that it evokes.”
What can you tell us about your role in this piece? I assume you act but you’re also dancing..
“Well there’s no skill in this show that gets past Philly and Jenny without being put in the show so if you say you can do a bit of something, they’re like, ‘Fantastic, put it in’.
“I’m the English cousin, a kind of comedic hand between the piece and the audience, kind of acting a fool and having a play with the audience in a couple of scenes.
“I also, yes, dance in the piece, and I also sing a beautiful Cranberries song which is one of my favourite parts in the show because that’s the more emotional peak for me.
“Then I have to run backstage and put a hat on and a moustache and continue to be an eejit as my mother would say.”
So it’s all singing, all dancing, is it similar in tone to some of your other work such as your play 0800-CUPID?
“I think there’s such a distinctive THISISPOPBABY palette.
“I’ve never worked with a company before that can mix sincerity with satire, with depth, with nipple tassels.
“you’ll be crying one scene. You’ll be crying tears from poetry in one second and then you’ll be crying with laughter watching a strip tease the second, And then you’ll be in awe.
“it’s so dynamic What THISISPOPBABY offer.
“In terms of the parallels with the work that I’ve done before, like 0800-CUPID, you really take the audience on a really dynamic journey so they’re always actively engaged and active participants in the work.
“It’s not us and them, it’s us together so that’s how I’d say it’s similar.
“And it’s just life-y.
“It’s just a life-y show. It really is.
“It hits.
“It hits hard.”
What kind of reactions do you get after the show?
Do people come up to you emotional?
“Well, actually, in this piece, a lot of people don’t know me because I’m in drag.
“So a lot of people are kind of like, ‘I think you’re very underused in the show’.
“That’s what I get a lot.
“Or ‘I had no idea that you were Duncan and also this person’, because I’m a lady and then I kind of run backstage and then come back and I’m Duncan Disorderly, which is my drag character name.
“A lot of people don’t put two and two together so a lot of people are actually like, ‘Where’s the DJ? what happened to the DJ?’
“But in terms of my other work, I think it’s so important to create relationship to the audience especially, and that’s why I incorporate a lot of cabaret, audience participation, improvisation into my work, because it offers a sense of immediacy and a sense of risk and when those things are in play, everyone becomes more present.
“I think presence is something that’s really hard to come by in today’s day and age with so many distractions.
“I’m speaking for myself too. I’ll be watching Netflix on my phone whilst making dinner. There’s so many things clawing for your attention whereas a show like this that is putting everything out on the line and is so like now, is something that is so rare and so fun to do.”
Does it take Irish tradition and sex it up a bit?
“I think sex is a byproduct because we’re all so gorgeous,” Emer laughs.
“I think it’s using club culture, queer culture, kind of a frenzy of ritual, rave, grief, joy, tradition.
“It’s got this injection of camp energy and joy and everything.
“And naturally nipple tassels and little gold hotpants are a byproduct of that.”
Is it a show for everyone?
“It’s a show for everyone.
“It really is a show for anyone who has ever felt loss or grief.
“It’s a show for anyone who’s ever felt love, who’s ever needed like catharsis.
“It’s a show for anyone who just wants a good night out, who just wants to party.
“Who just wants to feel part of something together as a collective.
“It’s a show for everyone: Young, old, in between, inside out, upside down. You’re welcome.”
You grew up in London with a strong Irish influence, was your upbringing very much like the mix of modern and tradition that is this show?
“My mum is a seanchaí , a storyteller of Celtic folklore, and my dad is an Irish actor.
“I grew up on a diet of the Celtic cycles and Irish music and Irish literary genius from books and writers and artists.
“I always felt really connected.
“We would go back and forth from Cork to London quite a bit so I felt really connected to my Irishness and it’s been such a privilege to go home, or what we call ‘home’ which is Ireland, to collaborate with Irish artists and to bring my experience of growing up in this inner city metropolis of London with all of its vitality.
“Is the show like growing up in London?
“Is being part of this show like my diaspora experience?
“I think the love for Irish culture and the pride In being Irish and how much we champion this place that is so eclectic, generous and rich in culture.
“That’s how I feel connected because it reminds me of how me and my family and the reverence that we have for Irish culture, the mix of everything I think.”
Did you always feel Irish even though you grew up in south west London?
“I wasn’t allowed to feel any other way.
“My mum, to this day, will not let me get an English passport.
“In every form and everything, I am just Irish.
“I never really, in all honesty, ever thought that I was from.
“I’ve never had that framing.
“I’ve been conditioned pretty thoroughly by my mum and dad to say otherwise despite what my South London accent might might reveal.”
It is going to be special to bring it to London for you, isn’t it?
“It would be really exciting to connect with other people like myself.
“If I wasn’t part of this show but I went to see this show as someone from the Irish diaspora in London, I would feel so bolstered and connected to my culture.
“It’s definitely a family affair.”
Speaking of family, are your parents going to come and see it? “Oh yeah, and my cousins, and my aunties, and my second cousins, and my third cousins thrice removed.”
You have spoken about LGBT identity in your work previously. What is your take on how Ireland has come even in recent history?
“What’s amazing is it was only decriminalised in ’93.
“I think it’s such a testament to the work and the advocacy and the bravery of the generations that have come before me that my journey- I’m getting emotional now but my journey has been really easy.
“Obviously I’m only speaking for myself.
“I have had some really loving and supportive family and have found this incredible network of creatives and queer artists and mentors and friends.
“I’ve only felt- not always but- love and acceptance and celebration.
“That’s the energy that I think we need the most now at this point in the world.
“Looking at the world at large, that’s not the case and if anything, the pendulum is swinging backwards especially with our trans brothers and sisters and non-binary siblings.
“I think we really have to work hard as a community to protect them now.
“But in terms of the progression in Ireland from 1993 to now, it’s pretty remarkable.”
What’s next for you? Will we see another run for 0800-CUPID or you coming back with another play?
“There’s definitely exciting plans afoot.
“I can say pretty confidently that 0800 CUPID will be returning at some point.
“I have also just received a development grant from the Arts Council to develop a new body of work which is around blending traditional Irish culture with contemporary queer culture so I’m really sticking on a theme here.”
WAKE is at Peacock Theatre, London 2-5 April and Aviva Studios, Manchester 17-21 April. For more information, click here.
