Echo Boys show at the Cork Arts Theatre is a smash hit

READ all about it! Show about the iconic Echo Boys is a smash hit!

Yes, reader, shout it from the rooftops; this new play is a little gem – a nostalgic salute to Cork, its people, its sense of humour, its singy-songy accent… and, of course, the fellas, young and old, who have sold this newspaper on the streets for more than 130 years.

Playwright Marion Wyatt has a long history of penning stories about the treasures of Cork’s past – from Sunbeam girls to shawlies – and her latest work, set in the 1960s, is an absolute belter, taking the Echo Boys as its theme. It’s two-and-a-half hours of pure, unadulterated warm nostalgia for a time long before Celtic Tigers stalked the land, when times were hard and people had to be hard too, but with a soft centre.

Homage

Yes, it’s a homage to the newspaper sellers who used to take to the streets in their dozens, making a precious few bob and filling the city’s soundscape with their famous cry, but it’s much more besides.

Several strands of stories run through it – one boy wants to make a success of his life, another is working for his destitute family, whose dad has gone AWOL in England and whose mother has resorted to the bottle.

There is romance too, on this pleasurable jaunt down memory lane. Despite tackling heavy social issues, it’s never downbeat for long – Cork humour abounds, particularly from the matriarchs, as they try to navigate often impossibly large families through times of need.

Superb

The ensemble cast are superb – I counted 25 on the little stage at one point – and there is music to lift the mood. It’s hard to single out one performer, but the boss of the Echo Boys is a hoot, counting the pennies and reminiscing about the time he slipped John F Kennedy an Echo when he visited town! It’s a story that shows how Cork and its people bonded and found joy and fun in trying times, and the Echo Boys played a big part.

The Echo Boys show? Sure, it’s me dazza! It runs at Cork Arts Theatre until April 27.