Encore Mick Mellamphy! The Smuggler is Loose in Ireland
The Smuggler is back and rhyming its way through Ireland, so we updated our earlier episode with actor Mick Mellamphy with news of his Irish tour of Ronán Noone’s award-winning one-man tour de force this July.
Set on a wealthy American island enclave and performed in rhymed verse, The Smuggler follows Irish immigrant Tim Finnegan as he’s pulled into the local criminal underworld after a fatal crash stirs tensions between locals and migrants.
It's a raucous, interactive experience, with the edge of a thriller and the serious subtext of immigration and identity, playing in Listowel, Cork, Belfast, and Dublin (details below).
With roots in both Dublin and Cork, Mick is a well-known New York actor and artistic director of the Origin Theatre who enjoys rockstar fame as the performance capture actor for the cheeky Irish gunslinger Sean MacGuire from the massively popular video game Red Dead Redemption 2, aka RDR2.
Mick leaves us with a wee sample of The Smuggler as he slips into the conflicted character of Tim Finnegan, but to get the full experience, catch Mick on tour in Ireland this July.
Original episode published January 2023
Links
The Smuggler
- Schedule and Venues
- St John’s Theatre, Listowel (July 11)
- The Cork Arts Theatre (July 16-19)
- The Harrison Hotel, Belfast (July 23-25)
- J.R. Mahon’s, Dublin (July 28-30)
Mick Mellamphy
Episode Details: Season 7, Episode 23; Total Episode Count: 126
00:00 - Introduction
03:35 - Before and After a Performance
06:27 - Michael - Culchie or Jackeen
09:19 - Panto Beginnings
13:50 - Parental Support
16:03 - Moving to New York City
19:25 - Making New York Home
23:09 - Becoming American
25:14 - Owning Ryan's Daughter
28:27 - Red Dead Redemption 2
31:14 - Budgets: Gaming vs Off Broadway
35:23 - Origin Theatre Company
39:09 - Excerpt: The Smuggler
40:48 - One Man Show Challenges
43:30 - John Recap
43:49 - Credits
Michael Mellamphy
Artistic Director Origin Theatre
A native of Cork Ireland, Mellamphy is a busy New York actor who is a member of the Irish Repertory Theatre and a founder of The Pigeon Theatre Company, as well as a former owner of the Irish bar Ryan’s Daughter where he produced a number of immersive theater productions. Before helming the 13th annual Origin 1st Irish (with Sarah Street)which hosted 20 virtual events and showcased the work of 34 contemporary Irish playwrights, Mellamphy had already become a familiar 1st Irish presence, winning two Best Actor awards in previous years. In addition to making numerous television appearances over the years, he is also the performance capture artist of the cheeky Irish gunslinger Sean MacGuire from Rockstar’s hugely popular video game “Red Dead Redemption 2.”
Michael is a graduate of the Performing Arts program at Colaiste Stiofain Naofa/ The Firkin Crane Theatre in Cork City, Ireland, and also graduated from the three-year conservatory Theatre Studies program at Inchicore College, Dublin, Ireland. His earliest memories of theater were sitting with his grandmother at the Cork Opera House for the annual Christmas panto. She would tell him, “You could be up there, doing that for a living”. Even then as a young child, Michael was excited and inspired by theatre and its power to bring communities together, challenge people, and foster new ideas. To have the opportunity to continue this work in the Theatre Capital of the World, with a company so dear to his heart, is something that humbles and excites him at the same time.
