Michael Patrick may not live long enough to play King Lear, so a rendition of Lear’s storm scene finds a way into his new one-man show. “Do it now” is the imperative for this multitalented Belfast actor and playwright who, in 2023, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given an estimated four years to live. In a script written with his regular collaborator Oisín Kearney, Patrick describes the impact of that prognosis and his decision to take part in an international drug trial.
Directed by Kearney with an assured touch, the simple staging against a plain black curtain is animated by a soundtrack of Patrick voicing his friends, family and childhood drama teacher, with snatches of songs and Shakespeare sparking memories. Referring to his eligibility as “a diversity hire”, having lost the use of his right leg, a tongue-in-cheek social media post suggesting stage roles he was now suited for prompted Belfast’s Lyric theatre to invite him to play Richard III last year. Adapting the text with Kearney, who directed him, Patrick’s portrayal of the murderous king as disabled was far from tokenistic.
Watching Patrick spinning in his hi-tech wheelchair, speaking with wryly humorous candour about being “a dying man”, it is as if there is no gap between the performance and his life; he is summoning all his available energy for these moments on stage, in his chosen form. “For this hour, I’m the one in charge,” he says.
Honest about his fears of death and the frustrations of having to be lifted into bed, dressed and cared for, what makes his account so exceptional is his total lack of self-pity. He could have written a bestselling memoir about his illness, he says, but instead chose to perform it because, like a life, “theatre is there until it’s not”.
