Paddy Lennox On … Family Trees
August 27, 2009
Earlier this year I was hit by a car and taken to hospital. I had amnesia and two broken ribs. Oh, and I thought I was Oliver Cromwell. Why did I tell them I was Oliver Cromwell? Wasn’t he the bad guy? I mean, I am Irish, terrible at history and quite a nice fella.
It came as a bit of a shock when my mother confirmed that I was a direct descendent of Oliver Cromwell. Questions had to be answered! That is the starting point to the rollicking ride I take in my show through 400 years of family skeletons. I get tangled in my family tree and find the humour in the colourful characters, contradictions and gruesome past of my ancestry.
Did we really own the Giant’s Causeway and live in Dunsevrick Castle? Who was this Brigadier General Richard Kane buried in Westminster Abbey? I found myself in a journey that took me from King Billy landing at Carrickfergus to Himmler and the Third Reich via the Erisakay Love Lilt and the Battle of Britain
Last year I did a straight stand-up show and it was a gas. In 2005 I did a sketch show and that was just as flatulent. So this year, I wanted to do a show that combined characters, comedy and a journey of discovery. Luckily, my family have always been great at telling stories so I have a bag of anecdotes to add to my findings and some interesting results from my DNA test.
I have really enjoyed writing a show that involves my family. As an actor, you have to work your emotions into a character or piece, but with this, the passion and empathy is already there. It is, after all, in my DNA. Also, getting into genealogy is like being a detective and doing history A-Level. I studied sciences at school so this has been a blast, spending time in museums, galleries and archives, not to mention speaking to all my relatives about their lives and loves.
The show opens with a proper little film starring my two sons. It sums up what we get up to and involves cow-tipping and making things explode. Since I am away for all of August, I wanted them to be in my show. On the shoot, they were really relaxed and did everything on the first take. Who said never work with children or animals?
Paddy Lennox: Who Does He Think He Is? is at Gilded Balloon, 5-31 August at 6:45pm.
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EIF: 14 August-6 September
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