Hurling blockbuster set for Nenagh Arts Centre stage

‘Pucked’, a fast-paced, comedic, theatrical, one-man blockbuster about hurling, comes to Nenagh Arts Centre on Saturday, February 15.

Written and performed by Cathal Ryan from The Ragg, ‘Pucked’ tells the story of the young and ambitious Matty Daly. Immersed in the GAA from birth, Matty has one dream and one dream only - to play on his senior team.

When Matty finally gets called up, we join him as he learns the hard way that playing senior isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. ‘Pucked’ tackles issues such as self-confidence, individualism, masculinity and ambition with humour and energy, all the while celebrating the greatest sport on Earth, hurling.

BORN WITH HURLEY IN HAND

Cathal jokes that in The Ragg, like many parts of Tipp, you’re born with a hurley in your hand. Immersed in the GAA from a young age, he “lived in that bubble” until he found theatre at the age of 17.

With a grand-uncle involved in Thurles Drama Group, he went to plays often throughout childhood, but it never occurred to him that he could do it. Or, as he says, he never did it in case he’d miss training.

Cathal went to NUIG in Galway to study performance and made up for lost time by totally immersing himself in theatre and performance. Cathal was then accepted onto The Lir Academy's BA Acting degree, claiming one of the 16 places on offer. He completed his training in October 2021.

‘Pucked’ as a play came out of a conversation that Cathal had with Brendan Maher, artistic director of the Source Arts Centre in Thurles. “Brendan attended an online graduation play of mine that fellow Lir graduate and Clonmel native Jack Reardon directed, and told me to get in touch when I graduated,” he said.

Cathal had always been interested in creating his own work and had started thinking of ideas around a celebration of the GAA and his love of hurling, combined with ideas of masculinity and expectations of young men, particularly those growing up in rural Ireland.

“With ‘Pucked’, I don’t want to teach anything but I’d hope that people coming to the play, particularly young men, might feel that there are thoughts in it that they’d share.”

With encouragement from dramaturg Gavin Kostick and Bryan Burroughs, both tutors at The Lir, Cathal approached the Source Arts Centre, which funded a first draft of ‘Pucked’. “My classes with Bryan were a huge inspiration for the show,” Cathal says. “He really opened my eyes to the limitlessness of theatre.”

SENIOR DREAMS

The play is as fast-moving as the game itself, bringing to life Matty Daly, a young hurler who dreams of making it to the Senior team.

His Mam and Dad, his teammates and arch-nemesis, Conor Dooley, are the inhabitants of the village where he lives - an Everytown of rural Ireland. The play features the highs of playing and the lows of the WhatsApp group you’re not in. Funny and moving in turns, the passion for hurling is clear throughout in a show that puts the audience on the sidelines of a game and a life, written by an actor who knows every move from the inside out.

Kicking off its All-Ireland tour at Source Arts Centre in Thurles this week, ‘Pucked’ tours across Ireland. Endorsed by the GAA, this is a show for theatre and GAA fans alike.

You can catch it at Nenagh Arts Centre on Saturday, February 15. Visit www.nenagharts.com for further details.