Julie Helen: I could hardly breathe because I was laughing so hard

I REALLY enjoy going out and maybe doing something a little bit different and when the Improvised Panto came to my attention on social media, I follow Laura O’Mahony, and I think she’s hilarious as a real, decent soul who splatters her life in all its glory across Instagram. She even has a Podcast Red Raw with Rob Heffernan and I just can’t get enough of it! I knew the Improvised Panto would be right up my alley and of course I had to bring David along for the ride!

I booked dinner in Luigi Malones, and we were welcomed as always with particular attention paid to access. The host Sile was so kind and friendly and it makes such a difference to my comfort.

I had a couple of cocktails getting in the festive spirit and we enjoyed being out late as the Impromptu Panto begins at 10.30pm in the Cork Opera House as it is an adults only event, a time for some grown up fun, a night out with my lovely husband was such a welcome treat!

The cast of five were absolutely phenomenal. 

The concept of Improvised Panto is that the audience gets a different panto every night by choosing some of the key elements by roaring at poor Laura as she acts as Master of Ceremonies at the beginning of the show. We were given the options of a number of stories. We chose Cinderella that was set in Knocknaheeny and the Prince lived in Carrigaline. The ball took place in St Vincent’s Hurling and Football club. You can see how things were evolving. Then of course we had to choose what cast members played what roles in the show. Of course the three men had to play women and we mixed things up as best we could! I was giggling in anticipation and the raucous roaring was an indication of how much craic we were going to have.

Dylan Howe was musical director and he was sitting on the stage with his keyboard. I watched him closely at the start and every so often he got this glint in his eye, like an idea had occurred to him to make his pals sing or dance. Very early on he played an upbeat ditty which resulted in the character Laura O’ Mahony was playing having to sing about being on hunger strike as Terence McSwiney. That really showed me that the humour was going to teeter on the edge of politically correct which is the only way I would want comedy to be! 

My human rights brain did start ticking off the mentions of different disabilities but it soon became so clear that it was all in good fun and absolutely everyone from every single walk of life was in the firing line.

There were at least three times when I could hardly breathe because I was laughing so hard at the “gatch” of the characters and the things they came out with. I can spoil the story because even if you go this weekend or next, you won’t hear the same thing. In the end Cinderella chose to marry Buttons, her best friend rather than the Prince, but how we got there was utterly hilarious because we all took a break from the reality of the wokeness of the world and we just embraced everything that is pure Cork.

It takes a lot of guts to stand up on a stage and not know how things are going to play out well done Laura O’ Mahony, Laura Harte, Dominic McHale, John McCarthy, Declan Wolfe, Dylan Howe and all behind the scenes. I’ll be back next year!