An Evening With Reggie: Cork snob enjoys his move from page to stage
Pat Fitzpatrick as Reggie in An Evening with Reggie at the Everyman. Picture: Darragh Kane
Reggie takes to the stage to the sound of Strauss’s Zarathustra (or the music in the Guinness Light advert, as audience members of a certain age might remember it). He raises his arms like a conquering Roman emperor, and his people cheer wildly.
For he really is among his people. They’ve jumped aboard the Reggie express at some stage over the past few years, getting a glimpse of the first-class carriage via his pointed questions in the Ask Audrey column in this newspaper, or the related podcast, or the video clips that often became even more viral than the virus itself.
The Cork snob created by Pat Fitzpatrick has become a uniquely Leeside phenomenon. He rolls out insults at everyone, particularly the ‘Norries’ who live north of the river, but also wannabes of all sorts who, try as they might, will never match his €5.2m mansion on the Blackrock Road. He may get close to the bone at times, but nobody really gets insulted, as Reggie is always happy to be the biggest gowl in the room.
Onstage at the Everyman for a two-week run, directed by Pat Kiernan of Corcadorca fame, An Evening With Reggie has Cork's "most beautifully spoken man" taking aim at his familiar targets. Norries, Passage West, people from Limerick, his Kerry neighbour Seán-Mike Seán-Mike O'Sé O'Sé, etc, all get referenced in the ultimate Cork banter-fest.
Some sections of the 60-minute offering are stronger than others, but the hoots of laughter suggest Fitzpatrick’s character has plenty of the audience very much on his side.
He struts about the stage in an overly-revealing robe, later changing into a sort of hazmat suit for an encounter with the real live Norries in the audience. Reggie also treats us to a slideshow about various aspects of his well-heeled life, including shots from one of those liberal Kinsale parties that you’ll be for ever trying to scrub from your mind.
Other highlights include a geography lesson using a map of Cork. As you may be aware, Blackrock residents have to share the south side of the Lee with various inferior types. With his magic pointer, Reggie offers suggestions on how some suburbs could be shunted to a more suitable location. He can only dream.
- An Evening with Reggie runs at the Everyman, Cork, until April 16. https://everymancork.com/
