Entertainment

Brendan Galileo For Europe writer/actor Fionn Foley: 'politics is now only slightly less flamboyant than Eurovision'

David Roy chats to Galway writer/actor Fionn Foley about bringing his hit Eurovision-themed one-man political satire Brendan Galileo For Europe to Belfast's Lyric theatre

Fionn Foley in action as Brendan Galileo. Picture by Szymon Lazewski
Fionn Foley in action as Brendan Galileo. Picture by Szymon Lazewski Fionn Foley in action as Brendan Galileo. Picture by Szymon Lazewski

BRENDAN Galileo has a dream – a dream of achieving political power via a rousing Eurovision hit while saving his local school of music from being converted into apartments (for racehorses).

A one-man musical comedy romp about a wannabe Irish politico attempting to parlay Eurovision votes into European election votes, Brendan Galileo For Europe earned Galway-born actor/writer Fionn Foley rave reviews at last year's Dublin Fringe Festival, not to mention a couple of awards – including Best Performer.

Now, Foley is about to set off on tour with the Jada de Brí-directed show, kicking off at the Draíocht arts centre in Blanchardstown on June 14 before heading north to Belfast's Lyric theatre on June 15, followed by a Dublin residency at Bewley's Cafe Theatre from June 17 to July 6 and a month of performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

"It uses the Eurovision as a kind of an allegory," explains the Trinity College trained performer.

"Brendan's trying to break through the tribal nature of Irish politics both north and south while bringing something new to it. Rather than working his way up each rung of the political ladder, he sees notoriety or fame in whatever shape it takes is worth more to him – so he looks at the Eurovision Song Contest as a way of getting noticed.

"It's satirical and it's kind of farcical and a bit abstract in that way, but ultimately I think the show is rooted in something that is very true at the moment, where being flamboyant or a 'personality' or populist or contrarian is kind of worth more to you than 40 years on the county council, y'know?"

It seems that the intersection of politics and showbusiness has been something of a long-standing fascination for Foley, who was inspired to create Brendan Galileo for Europe during the recent European election campaign.

"What dawned on me is that politics is now only slightly less flamboyant than Eurovision," he explains. "If anything, the Eurovision voting system is taken a little more seriously than the MEP elections. I thought there was an opportunity to push that to its limits with this show, which is inherently a comedy and not meant to be something that could feasibly happen.

"But what's interesting is when the comedy reaches into grey areas where you're thinking 'this is absolutely ridiculous and farcical, yet there are elements that maybe could happen' – it becomes less of a satirical thing and more of an almost Orwellian prophecy.

"There are so many parallels between Eurovision and European elections: you have people who are taking it very seriously but also people who are just there to ridicule the whole thing. If nothing else, it was definitely fertile ground for a laugh."

Describing the musical element of the show as "very much my bag" – "everything I've written has had a huge musical strand running through it," he tells me – self-confessed 'Eurovision nerd' Foley thoroughly enjoyed the research process required to craft a suitably authentic Eurovision anthem for Brendan to belt out.

"I was and always have been a massive Eurovision fan – and not in a totally ironic way," he admits of how he crafted both major musical numbers in the performance, which – crucially – are not supposed to be that good.

"I definitely looked at the last 50 to 60 years of Eurovision for inspiration. It was a matter of trying to strike that balance between something that was entertaining and nice to listen to, but also on some level you knew would not do very well.

"There's a lot of tropes you want to try to get in there, like a key change, a bit where the audience is provoked into some sort of call and response, trying to name-check as many countries or cities as possible and making some sort of kitschy reference to your country's culture in the performance – I'd say Ireland's entries have had more Irish dancing in them than has ever taken place in the actual country.

"Throw them all together with a load of synthpop and it almost immediately starts to sound like a Eurovision song."

Ireland and the United Kingdom's recent Eurovision efforts must have provided fertile fodder for this aspect of the show, though Foley says he refused to watch this year's event due to "apartheid state" Israel hosting.

"Originally, Eurovision was conceived as an apolitical idea where all these European nations would put aside their differences to come together for one night of light entertainment," he tells me.

"Of course, even within 10 years it was a million miles from that and now it's so loaded that everything from the first performance to the voting is just drenched in the nuances of every international relationship.

"It's gone from being about avoiding the elephants in the room to actually being the elephant in the room."

Foley is now something of an old hand at one-man performances following the success of his previous one-hander, Eamonn in Menswear.

"That was a kind of a rap-musical," he explains. "It was kind of about the inherent racism within Irish society and how it kind of comes out in very mundane ways – and how the 'seeming harmlessness' of that is the most threatening thing about it.

"I like to deal with those kind of sinister themes in a very accessible or 'poppy' way that never takes the show away from what it should be, which is entertainment and fun – something that you kind of come out of feeling better than you did going in."

As for Brendan, the Galway man is looking forward to taking him on the road.

"I'm really excited given the MEP elections and a particularly controversial Eurovision just gone, and with stuff like Brexit reaching boiling point, I think it will have extra resonance," enthuses Foley.

"I'm particularly looking forward to doing it at the Lyric. I think some of the themes will play out differently there as the north has had such a tribal landscape as well as bearing the brunt of the whole Brexit fiasco."

:: Brendan Galileo for Europe, Saturday June 15, the Lyric, Belfast. Tickets via Lyrictheatre.co.uk