Don’t B 2 Keen Mr. Matchmaker

Don’t B 2 Keen Mr. Matchmaker by Conrad JB Ethan, a young Dublin gay man, disillusioned with his prospects of ever owning a house in the capital, sets off to deep rural Ireland in search of a Sugar Daddy. Written as a reaction to John B Keane’s ‘The Matchmaker’, Don’t B 2 Keen Mister Matchmaker explores the transactional feeling of modern day Grindr culture and how that can interact with rural isolation. Queer men’s hook-up apps can show you every man in Dublin who is willing to sleep with you, but if each of those men is still living in their parent’s gaff, what is one to do? Rural isolation is a real problem for countryside communities and LGBTQ+ people suffer heightened levels of loneliness when they feel unable to come out. Can we meet in the middle? Can we be our own Matchmakers? The play was directed by Anna Nugent Ethan was played by Robert Downes Sean, Casper, Daniel, Padraig was played by Emmanuel Okoye Sharon, Bride to Be, Sive was Maureen O’Connell Caoimhe, Jackie was played by Biaina Ryan Made with the support of the Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision scheme through the Television License Fee.