Suffering a lousy week, month, year or presidential term? Spend 75 minutes with affirmative Irish storyteller Mary Kate O Flanagan and likely you’ll feel better, or at least you may appreciate how your own troubles might be transformed into something meaningful by framing it as a story. That’s what Flanagan winningly demonstrates in her solo piece Making a Show of Myself, which opened Sunday in its American debut at Irish Repertory Theatre.
Expect no video, scenery or grand concept to the event, staged within the 100-seat environs of Irish Rep’s downstairs W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre. (The Honey Trap continues on the mainstage through February 15.) A nice-looking, red-headed, middle-aged woman in a voluminous black gown, Flanagan simply tells half a dozen personal stories. Not so simply, actually; spontaneous though they may seem in performance, the stories prove artfully crafted pieces. More than that, before relating each tale, Flanagan reflects upon the uplifting power of stories to connect people and to forge greater meaning out of everyday life.
Flanagan does not preach positivity, although among her remarks she mentions how terrible pressure can yield diamonds and, I think, also something about sand irritating oysters and how pearls can result. No lie, Flanagan’s next-door neighbor appeal was so disarming that my notes soon became vague.
Beginning with a wryly humorous account of trying out internet dating at age 38, Flanagan provides a group of varied though compelling tales. Flanagan’s most complex narrative regards her friendship with a shoeless Sudanese youth she met working as a volunteer in a migrant camp in France a few years ago, and how what seemed destined to be an impossible dream saw a happy ending. Perhaps the most touching one regards when Flanagan and her five adult sisters flouted Irish tradition and carried upon their shoulders their father’s coffin from the house to the church to the grave. As in all of the stories, expect some good laughs and honest sentiment along the way. Quaintly, Flanagan ends each segment with a curtsey.
A friendly, low-keyed artist given to eloquent arm gestures, Flanagan tells these stories well, speaking in a pretty brogue with a gentle voice. (Apologizing for a cold, she occasionally sipped a mug of tea at Saturday’s matinee.) A turquoise bracelet gleaming upon Flanagan’s wrist later figures in a subtle closing fable about how she lost and then recovered her voice. Not interacting directly with the audience, Flanagan soon establishes a warm rapport with viewers by her mildly self-deprecating manner and the persuasive sway of her storytelling.
Will O’Connell, the director who Flanagan credits as a dramaturg, unobtrusively deploys the lighting to accent the performance. In a program note as playwright and performer, Flanagan claims that this show has never been actually written down but the polish of her stories tends to suggest otherwise. No matter, many people will be positively glad to make Flanagan’s big-hearted acquaintance.
Making a Show of Myself opened February 8, 2026, at the Irish Repertory Theatre and runs through March 1. Tickets and information: irishrep.org
