By Cian O’Connell

“It is the ideal place to be bringing it because it is bringing it to the home of the GAA,” Timmy Creed says about the upcoming performances of Spliced at the National Handball Centre at Croke Park this week.

Five and a half years ago Creed wrote and started performing the one man show. Creed’s passion for the highly regarded project endures with the First Fortnight Festival attracting attention.

“It is bringing into an arena and the GAA are recognising the show by giving us the stage there,” Creed adds. “They are recognising it has value, that it is maybe worth listening to or worth seeing.

“A lot of times when people come to see the show they wish the word of the show got out there sooner or it was more spread because they feel the show speaks to a certain demographic, who generally wouldn't go to the theatre. I often find that is what people say.”

Creed is relishing the chance to perform in a new setting. “Bringing it to Croke Park opens up the platform - this something that Croke Park are supporting,” Creed states.

“The venue is really amazing, a 500 seater handball court with perspex walls. I've never done it where I'm contained within the perspex - that adds a whole other element where I'm being contained within a box, trying to work to get out of it or push against it - the containment of the box.

“I'm really excited about it. I'm so familiar with the show, we have done it so many times that I don't have to worry about that. It is just adapting it to this really cool new interesting space is a challenge.”

Ultimately Creed is encouraged about how Spliced has been received by audiences since 2017. “I think it has gone well,” Creed responds. “The fact that I'm still doing it is a testament to how well it has gone, you could say it is a testament to the belief I have in it.

“A lot of the time now is people are wanting to put it in their festivals, they want it to be there. The story of the play it trickles out. People want to bring it to their festivals then.

“Personally it has given me opportunities as writer, artist, and performer to say what I'm thinking, to try to use my voice in a way I hadn't done before by creating things that come from me.”

Was it difficult to maintain a steely focus throughout the process of turning a dream into reality? “I have a lot more belief now than before it started,” he replies.

“The show hadn't happened then and I didn't know what it was going to look like. It actually took a year after that until we did it in Cork, actually two years after until I realised how the show needed to end.”

Adapting to circumstances, dealing with various challenges, Creed is still relishing the journey. “The vision initially was that it had to be outside of a theatre in a handball alley - a sporting ground,” Creed says.

“I guess from being used to going into the theatre things can be similar in some ways so I wanted to change the location - to make it specific to the sport so I could talk about sport in that context.

“Also it gave the opportunity for people who normally wouldn't go into a theatre to come into the sporting arena - where they might be more familiar with.

“You could also play a load of hurling in it, which you cannot really do on the stage. I was adamant at the start that was where it had to happen - in GAA clubs and handball alleys. As it has gone on I've realised that the story is actually the same. The same words are spoken, I'm the same performer. It can actually happen in a theatre.

“I've actually done it in all kinds of venues that aren't as ideal as my initial idea. There is an element of accepting and trusting that the story is enough. It doesn't have to be in a specific location.”

Working alongside others has been beneficial and rewarding too for Creed with further knowledge acquired. “The show is always open to be changed with additions made to it, Gina Moxley is the director of the show, she has been a huge support since we began, not just on this project, but on other projects we have worked together on,” Creed says.

“We have an understanding as to how to talk to each other about the work and how to give feedback. I trust her and I think she trusts me. So we have a nice working relationship. She has been the main support and confidant throughout the whole thing.

“There is a strong team of designers, lighting, video, and sound with a number of technical assistants, who have been with the show since the start for the last five years.

“All of those people together solidify the thing. They secure it in a way that I don't have to do as much thinking about it. All of these guys know it very well, they know their roles very well in it.

“When you bring it on the road it is a small crew - we usually have three of us, but there is a solidity to it which helps us when we are encountering problems like going to places where they mightn't be used to having shows.”

Spliced has been a key part of Creed’s artistic life in recent years. Bringing an ambitious plan through the various stages of writing and subsequently acting enabled Creed to craft pieces of theatre.

“It was the first thing I ever wrote so it started me on a path of trying to create theatre and to write for theatre, to create pieces of performances in whatever shape they are,” he replies.

“I didn't think I had the capacity to do that beforehand, but the success of the show, and the opportunities it brought me, I can just put pen to paper if I have the time and the idea to want to create something.

“I was more focused on acting before I made this show, they are totally interlinked because the show is even about acting or my journey into acting and out of it.

“This has opened up another door to writing and creating theatre that is definitely fulfilling and is a road that will continue, I'd imagine. The two things will live side by side, I hope.”

Tickets for this weekend’s performance of Spliced are available here.