TV adaptation of 'darkly absurd comedy' by Blindboy Boatclub nominated for award

The author and podcaster said: 'I adore Limerick, it’s my home, and I’ll defend it from gowls who unfairly give it a bad name out of laziness.'

Blindboy said: 'It’s a Celtic Tiger story. It’s about how a person’s identity can become fractured when we place too much of our self-worth in our possessions, achievements, and other people’s opinions of us.' File picture: Brian Arthur

Blindboy Boatclub has been nominated for a prestigious award for the TV adaptation of one of his stories filmed on the streets of his native Limerick — a city he will always defend from “gowls who unfairly give it a bad name”.

Blindboy’s production company, Connla’s Well, has been nominated for the adaptation of Did you read about Erskine Fogarty? at Ireland’s Royal Television Society.

Part of Blindboy’s genre-defying collection, The Gospel According to Blindboy, Erskine’s story is one of a Limerick man who lost everything after moving to Dublin — except for his white, double American fridge/freezer.

Set in Limerick in 2008 amid the recession, the “darkly absurd comedy” was directed by James Cotter, co-founder of Connla’s Well Production. Blindboy said the response to the adaptation has been “fantastic”.

“Robbie Sheehan’s performance as Erskine was wonderful; it changed how I view the character. Then you had new talent like Thomas O’Halloran as the character Titmilk — he was a scene-stealer, a brilliant actor. 

"Robyn Dempsey as Megan too — I can’t wait to see what she does next. She will be massive, I reckon,” Blindboy told the Irish Examiner.

According to the author and podcaster, Limerick is visually beautiful and is “unique as an Irish location”.

Speaking of his Erskine short story, he recalled: “I wrote it in the very locations where it is set — the park canal, O’Connell Street, Henry Street. I painted these places with words. 

I adore Limerick, it’s my home, and I’ll defend it from gowls who unfairly give it a bad name out of laziness. 

"It feels like a warm hug to be able to write a story in Limerick and then see it up on screen.” 

Blindboy explained the character or Erskine is an unreliable narrator throughout the story, so you never know if you’re being lied to.

“It’s a Celtic Tiger story. It’s about how a person’s identity can become fractured when we place too much of our self-worth in our possessions, achievements, and other people’s opinions of us. You’ll eventually crash. Erskine has lost his true self.

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“It’s not a single moralistic tale; it’s a polyptych of ideas. But there’d be no harm in reading about the theories of Carl Rogers. His view of human personality inspired a lot of the ideas in the story,” he said.

Asked if there will be more TV projects in the future, he said: “I can’t tip my hat to anything in the works at the moment. But I have three collections of short stories ready to go, and I’ve an infinity of books that haven’t been written yet. 

"My podcast is also a gigantic novel that’s full of ideas and stories. Before I became a writer of books, I was writing for television, so my short stories will always have an adaptability to them, whether I intend it or not,” he said.