Dan Gordon brings his 'cracker' play on the life of Frank Carson to Enniskillen

Speaking to the Impartial Reporter ahead of his Ardhowen show on Saturday, Dan Gordon explained the inspiration behind the play.

He said: “I met Tony Carson, Frank’s son. He came to see a show I’d written about my own father, which was about the shipyard because my father was a shipyard worker, and we got talking and he thought it mightn’t be a bad idea if I wrote a play about his dad.”

Dan continued: “Initially I said no because he’s not my dad, but then vanity got the better of me and I started to research Frank Carson and I was amazed at what I discovered. So that’s what sent me in that direction.”

‘Frank Carson: A Rebel Without A Pause,’ is both written and performed by Dan. Sharing his writing process, he said: “Basically it was research and write, research and write and interviewing people.”

Noting that he wrote the play over three years, Dan’s research consisted of numerous interviews with people who knew Frank from various stages of his life including Adrian Walsh and Roy Walker, comedians of Frank’s time.

Dan also interviewed Frank’s family members. He said: “I spoke to the Carson family, I spoke to Tony and particularly Majella, Frank’s daughter. They gave me some material. Majella had material that Frank had written and left behind because he nearly wrote a book on three occasions about himself but didn’t get around to it.”

He continued: “Tony had some audiotapes that Frank had made and dictated again when he tried writing a book. So I mixed all these up and threw them up into the air and they came down in a play.”

Over the three years, Dan spent some time “mulling stuff over,” and trying out different versions of the play.

“I mean I went through 14 or 15 drafts of the play, not hugely changing some of them but taking the back and putting it at the front and taking the front and putting it in the middle. Moving things around,” he said.

“I rehearsed with Ian McElhinney, he directed it. He is grandpa Joe in Derry Girls. He directed it along with his son Matthew as his assistant. We bounced a lot of stuff back and forward.”

During the play audiences will journey with Frank from his Belfast boyhood, where life was so tough ‘even the arms on the chairs had tattoos,’ through his adventures in the army, and into the world of showbiz where he entertained royalty but never forgot where he came from.

“It’s Frank talking about his life and telling jokes at the same time,” explained Dan, sharing the format of the play.

“Frank’s jokes were very quick-fire - ‘I went into a pet shop and I said to the fella I want to buy a wasp, the fella says we don’t sell wasps, I said, you have two in the window.’ It’s all that kind of quick fire stuff.”

“I might talk about something and then I’ll tell a joke about it which involves the same subject material,” he said.

Through his research into Frank’s life, Dan also discovered the possible inspiration behind his iconic catchphrase ‘it’s a cracker.’

“Frank’s grandmother worked in the Jacob’s biscuit factory in Dublin and she would say she was a cracker packer. ‘It’s a cracker’ was one of his lines. He was always cracking jokes and making funny stuff,” said Dan.

With Enniskillen being his last show, Dan said he is looking forward to returning to the Ardhowen, a venue he has performed at many times before. He added: “I love it, I think it’s one of the nicest theatres in the country. It’s a beautiful venue, but it’s a lovely theatre inside. It’s really welcoming and it just works well.”

Tickets can be purchased from the Ardhowen Box Office. Please note this performance is suitable for 12 plus years. Don’t miss the last opportunity to see this hilarious play. In the words of the late, great Frank Carson, it’s a cracker!