It’s Christmas Eve, and Rudolph’s got the flu! Jimmie and Robbie Mack are so desperate for Christmas to come that they’ve left twenty-seven sandwiches out for Santa. But Rudolf is off sick and Santa’s grounded the sleigh – with all the presents. Will the big day be cancelled? Or can Rover the wonder-dog save Christmas? Well, what do YOU think?

A novel by fifteen Irish writers in aid of Amnesty International, 2001, Jonathan Cape

(Calypso, 2001)

This play takes a light-hearted look at the different reactions within one Irish family to the arrival for dinner of Ben, a Nigerian asylum seeker. In particular the play focuses on the father, Larry Linnane. He considers himself a liberal until his eldest daughter brings home ‘the black fella’.

‘The Gigglers waited. They waited for the wallop – Mr Mack hitting the poo. They waited for the squelch – Mr Mack stepping on the poo. They waited for the groan – Mr Mack seeing that most of the poo was now on his shoe.’ Who are the Gigglers? Good question. The Gigglers look after children. And they do it very well…

ed Nick Hornby, 2000, Penguin

(1999) – RTÉ. Dir Kieron J Walsh

Hell For Leather was commissioned by RTÉ as part of a series of half-hour, two-hander, single location plays by six leading contemporary Irish writers.

A Catholic single mother and a Protestant career woman meet at the funeral of a priest only to discover there was more to the deceased than they realised.

Born in the Dublin slums of 1901, his father a one-legged whorehouse bouncer and settler of scores, Henry Smart has to grow up fast. By the time he can walk he’s out robbing and begging, often cold and always hungry, but a prince of the streets. By Easter Monday, 1916, he’s fourteen years old and already six-foot-two, a soldier in the Irish Citizen Army. A year later he’s ready to die for Ireland again, a rebel, a Fenian and a killer. With his father’s wooden leg as his weapon, Henry becomes a Republican legend – one of Michael Collins’ boys, a cop killer, an assassin on a stolen bike.

Danny Murphy is going to meet his brother, Jimmy. They haven’t seen each other in over twenty years. On the way to the meeting, Danny remembers
the good times and the bad times, the fun and the fights – and the one big row that drove them apart. Will the fight again or will
they become the friends they used to be? Danny doesn’t know.

Not just for Christmas is a book in the Open Door series published by New Island which sets out to show that books and reading can be for everyone. Each year they commission authors to write short books that are specifically designed to be easy to read. They are the same as mainstream books in every respect but are simply shorter and easier to tackle for adults who are less confident in their reading.

ed Dermot Bolger, 1997, Picador

(1996) Dir Stephen Frears

Bimbo (Donal O’Kelly) is brokenhearted at being laid off. His best friend Larry (Colm Meaney) hasn’t held down a job in ages. During World Cup fever these two fast friends cook up a get-quick-rich scheme that may be a dream come true or a living nightmare.