MTU Cork School of Music

BA in Theatre & Drama Studies 3rd

Performance of Annie Allen's World Tour

13-17 April 2021

Tickets €5 and €10

Now available online at events.cit.ie

A one-hour video production, directed by Johnny Hanrahan and filmed and edited by Cormac O'Connor

Annie Allen’s World Tour is an ingenious comedy of manners set in the very active imagination of a dead celebrity. Our deceased rock star cum comedienne subscribes to the very American view that ‘where there’s death there’s hope’ and experiences multiple lives simultaneously. She is everywhere and nowhere at once. In fact, she’s worried that she’s turning into Gwyneth Paltrow, a fate she considers far worse than death. But the truth, if you can believe anything these days, is that she has been astrally transported to Cork to oversee the complex web of lives that has been affected here by her passing. 

Based on Robert Altman’a Short Cuts format of brief intertwined scenes in a single locale, this charming piece traces seven different stories as they unfold and interact during one day, culminating in the vigil for Annie which all concerned attend. A new widow and her daughter moving house, a straight couple arguing about contraception, a gay couple being driven apart by workaholism, a sex pest finally getting his just desserts, a homeless street performer who is forced to go home. These are some of the everyday situations that are explored and illuminated by the wit and empathy of the show’s creators; the very gifted third year ensemble of CSM drama students. They have conceived and written the entire show as well as generating lots of fabulous new songs and a topping sound score. This is a first for CSM and it’s a complete charmer, walking the tight rope between hilarity and serious social commentary with effortless aplomb.

It’s something of an achievement to mount any show in current circumstances and for obvious reasons the piece has had to be filmed and broadcast rather than presented in the theatre. But the group, with extraordinary imagination and admirable pragmatism, have made a virtue of necessity and produced a punchy piece that is ideal for Covid audiences. Fun, fast, and full of youthful energy combined with great sound design and an overall production style based on the vibrant idioms of pop music, graphic novels and digital media, it is about as good a tonic as a weary Covid couch potato could ask for.