Mananan Festival 2024 – Help! I Think I’m A Nationalist, with Seamas Carey

Adults £15 / Under 18s £2  

HELP I THINK I’M A NATIONALIST is a  sell-out comedy show on identity, second homes, xenophobia and bagpipes. Directed by Agnieszka Blonska, Help! was created in spring 2022 and first performed to an entirely sold out run of 27 shows in Cornwall. It then toured to England, with sell out runs at Bristol Old Vic and Bath Theatre Royal. Following a month long stint at The Royal Lyceum as part of the Edinburgh Fringe and International festival 2023, the show has since toured all over the UK.

Who am I? Where do I belong? Is it OK to be a nationalist?
Cornwall is at a tipping point. House prices soar, the population shifts, tensions rise. Some people see it as a separate nation, whilst others see it as a prime holiday destination and playground for the rich.

Seamas Carey is confused.
 He is desperately trying to understand.
He’s watched a wave of gentrification sweep through his rural hometown. There’s nowhere to live, yet second homes stand empty. He wishes Cornwall
was more welcoming and inclusive, but watches “up country” money sow division and suspicion. Could closing borders and nationalism be the answer? Where’s the line between pride and power?
 What happens when it all goes too far?
Seamas needs help. He needs your help.

“The Comic causing uproar in Cornwall” – The Guardian
 “thoughtful, nuanced and entertaining” –  The Times
 “Entertaining and layered examination of nationalism” – The Stage

Seamas Carey is a Cornish artist/bloke best known for the run away-success podcast series The Reason Why, a humorous and thought provoking exploration of the social issues and culture wars of contemporary Cornwall. His other work includes; Pagan Pandemonium: The Outdoor Games, I Wish I Was A Standing Stone and Seamas Carey Meets His 4 Year Old Self (Emma Rice’s2019 theatre highlight, The Guardian). He also conducts Cornwall’s first alternative male voice choir, Men Are Singing. In 2020 he was the winner of the Maurice O’Connell Bursary Award and exhibited work at Tate St Ives in 2021.As a multi-instrumentalist (accordion, piano, double bass, bagpipes) Seamas has worked for ten years as a composer, performer, choir leader, musical director, puppeteer, silent film pianist and piano tuner. He grew up in Cornwall where he still lives, but has toured throughout the world with theatre productions by Wildworks, Kneehigh and Sally Cookson.

Mananan Festival 2024 is supported by IOM Arts Council
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