| Mistaken Identity By Grainne
McLoughlin
Michael Toumey has founded his own company to present a voice for
the second and third-generation Irish living in Britain. And to mark the
launch he has written and directed his own London Irish play Dancing With
The Angels. He tells Grainne McLoughlin about this latest venture.
Even if you’ve never heard of Michael Toumey, you know him. Or at least
you know the type. A second-generation Irishman who grew up rejected in
Britain and shunned in the land of his ancestry.
Toumey was continually throughout life driven to ask himself the question:
“Who am I and from where do I come?” Like so many people living in Britain
of Irish descent, Michael Toumey experienced a crisis of identity. And now,
several years on, he’s brought his experiences to the stage.
Dancing With The Angels, which has been both written and directed by
Toumey, is a fascinating insight into the dark and often hilarious world
of a London Irish family.
“The play is about love, loss, grief, jealousy and regret, but above
all, it addresses the inner conflict and identity crisis one can feel when
born into an Irish family living in London,” says Toumey.
And who better to write such a play. “When I was growing up,” he says,
“having an Irish name used to get me into quite a lot of fights. People
called me Paddy and I responded with my fists. I didn’t want to be called
names, I didn’t want to be any different. But it seemed I was. Equally when
I was home in Ireland, with an English accent, people would say: ‘You’re
not one of us’. And as a result you’re stuck in something of an identity
crisis — feeling almost like a half-breed.”
It was only later in life that Michael felt able to celebrate his roots
and where he came from. “Although I used to get annoyed with the fact I
came from Ireland when I was little, as I grew up and started to get into
Irish literature and art, it really dawned on me what a fantastic country
I was actually from.”
Toumey founded BeLucky Promotions in January of this year to present
a voice for people like him — second and third-generation Irish living Britain.
In fact the former actor likens what he’s doing in theatre for the Irish
in Britain to what the Pogues did for them in music.
“I love music,” says Toumey, “and I’ve always respected what the Pogues
did, especially when they were Pogue Mahone. The Pogues gave a voice to
the likes of me and my friends through music, but no-one had done anything
in theatre, film or TV, so I knew it was an original concept. I mean, there
are so many of us out there — and so I thought why not.”
It was the range of different opinions that emerged from this identity
crisis that really interested Toumey.
“I’ve got friends who are anti-Irish because of what they had to endure
growing up. I’ve other friends who’ve gone so far into the Irish thing they’re
nearly embroiled in the old Republican way of thinking. While I spent most
of my life hovering between the two. It’s almost like a sub-culture where
you’re part of both.”
Although not a biographical tale, Dancing With The Angels is drawn from
Michael’s experiences growing up in London. “I loved writing it and I’m
really excited about the entire project.”
Entrepreneur, playwright, actor and director are just some of the titles
you could attribute to Toumey. But they’re a long way from how he grew up.
Indeed, he admits he doesn’t know what he would have done had he not pursued
his acting career.
“Certainly if I wasn’t doing this, considering my background, I might
well have ended up in prison,” he quips.
But thankfully he hasn’t and instead he’s brought to the world one of
most-talked about stories no-one has ever told.
Talking about the best thing that could possibly come out of this play
and BeLucky Productions he says: “Really just for people to realise its
potential audience. I’d like to see it being transferred to somewhere like
the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn. I suppose the ultimate would be take it
on a tour of Ireland. That would be the cherry on the cake.”
The first of a possible trilogy, Dancing With The Angels will premiere
at The Union Theatre Southwark in September. For information contact the
box office on 020 7261 9876. Micheal Toumey will be talking about the production
and his background on BBC Radio London on August 25 at 10.15pm on the Simon
Lederman show and on LBC, August 26 at 1pm on the Sandi Toksvig show.
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