Sparkplug: A one-man show that’s vintage stuff

Actor, musician and writer, Little John Nee, is a one-man band whose show, Sparkplug, is superficially autobiographical. It’s about a travelling blues man and vintage-car mechanic.

But the detail that Sparkplug lives in his dead uncle’s barn is fiction. Nee wrote the one-man show in 2012, as a radio adaptation for RTÉ.

“Sparkplug comes from a family of rural mechanics,” says Nee, 54. “As a blues singer, he has been gigging all over the world. He finds himself in a fictional place called Tullyglen, and bases himself in the barn. He does shows all over the country, like myself, except he plays in really small venues. He’ll go anywhere he can get a gig. He’s always on the road, driving his vintage truck. The show is about the adventures he has on the road and the diverse rural communities he meets.”

While the show is contemporary, the people Sparkplug meets are only slowly coming into the 21st century. Galway-based Nee, born in Glasgow to Irish parents and reared in Letterkenny from the age of 12, says Sparkplug is a response to his desire to work and perform on his own. He plays a selection of “intriguing instruments”, including cigar-box guitars, an Indian harmonium, a melodica and ukuleles.

“I also wanted the show to travel lightly. I play a number of characters in the show, but I tour with it by myself. I also designed the music , so that I’m able to play it live. I use loop pedals. That’s a device that records the music as you play it live, allowing you to play it back, snatching bits of it for the show. It was very innovative when I started doing it.” The music and the songs are all part of Nee’s storytelling. “Sparkplug is living through the recession and finding it tough in rural Ireland. The general narrative of the country isn’t good. Times are hard for a blues man trying to make a living.”

But it’s not all depressing. Other characters enrich Sparkplug’s life. “Out of the blue, a new woman arrives in his neighbourhood and he finds himself smitten. So, there’s the story of their relationship developing. It turns out that the woman is being followed by a man, so that’s where the tension comes in.”

The show has been described as surreal, but Nee says it is magic realism. “But it’s believable, too. At times, some of the show seems absurd, but it’s rooted in reality. It’s a story about Ireland, a comedy that has poignant moments.”

Nee believes the economics of putting on theatre in Ireland today are the reason why one-man shows are so popular. “In the Cork context, you’ve got Pat Kinnevane. He’s one of many brilliant performers. The one-man show is a great opportunity to shine. But audiences think there’s a proliferation of them and want something else. I make my shows different. ‘Sparkplug’ is visually exciting. All the props move and shift, helping to create little vignettes. Also, there’s a strong relationship with the audience. I’m very aware that the show has to be entertaining.”

Nee has had a varied career: playing with bands, including on the punk scene in London. But as a one-man operation, based in the west of Ireland, Nee is “a bit out of the loop. But I love the life.” He plans to buy a vintage van and tour Sparkplug from Donegal to West Cork. “It would be a lovely thing to do,” he says.

‘Sparkplug’, the Everyman in Cork from August 7-9