Cathal Healy, one-half of the dynamic Smash & Grab duo, sat down with Irish Country Living to chat about their upcoming Smash & Grab andThe Seven Dwarfs in the Moat Theatre in Naas.
Starting out
Smash & Grab is now in its ninth year of performing, having had countless people through the doors.
“Nine years ago we came up with these two, for want of a better word, eejits from Dublin who were coming down to Naas to do their pantomime.
“There is a script but we only loosely follow it. We start with the first few lines and after that, it’s carnage.
We float in, float out, cause mayhem and then go for a little tea break
“We don’t know what will happen ourselves. We always find our way back to the script so that next character coming on has an idea what’s going on.
“We float in, float out, cause mayhem and then go for a little tea break.”
Their characters put a twist to the conventional Snow White pantomime.
“The plot is that we get the job of taking Snow White off into the woods to kill her but we make a mess of it and we leave her to live with the seven dwarfs. The queen finds out that Snow White is still alive and we get fired. So we have to try and protect Snow White.”
We are around 13 years doing panto
The panto is done in conjunction with the Brian Brady Youth Theatre in Naas. The youngest person on stage will be six years old, with Cathal being the eldest at 28.
“We are around 13 years doing panto. We’ve been working with Brian since we were in secondary school.
“We started working with Brian when we were 13 in the CBS in Naas and Smash & Grab became a thing with him.”
No friend like an old friend
Cathal and Conor aren’t just friends from school: they also went on to do the same degree in Trinity.
“Conor was the year below me in school and we got involved in school plays and that’s where it stems from.
“In Trinity, we did Stage Management and Technical Theatre. Neither of us are really using the degree we got, but sure look, it’s grand.”
Commitment
Cathal and Conor put plenty of time and effort into the show considering they both have full-time jobs outside of the winter panto. Cathal is a flight attendant with Aer Lingus while Conor works in Facebook’s European head office in Dublin.
“It is hard work. You give up your Christmas every year. You are setting up on 23 and 24 December.
“You get the 25th and 26th off and then you’re back in on the 27th, right through to the middle of January. You don’t get much of a break but it’s worth it.
“We do it for the pure enjoyment of it.
“For the first time I am working Christmas Eve, which is also my birthday, so that I can have the days off for the panto.
“I fly back from Chicago on 26 December so the birthday pints will be have to wait till then.”
At the time Irish Country Living were talking to Cathal he hadn’t received his roster for the performance dates but he revealed that for work he put in for early European flights and not transatlantic flights during this period.
“I could fly early in the morning, land back in at lunchtime and be on the stage for 3pm,” he says.
If you thought Cathal was busy, Conor is a glutton punishment too as he goes from panto to floor stage manager on Sunday nights for RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars with barely a break in between.
Making an entrance
Smash & Grab’s shows are well known for their dramatic and different entrances.
Cathal wouldn’t reveal this year’s entrance but he mentioned that the Gardaí are involved and that everyone in the know is pleased with it.
“In previous years we’ve abseiled from the roof, we’ve parachuted, we came in on two little Honda 50s, we burst through the door with a golf buggy and we’ve borrowed the McDonald’s car and drove it on stage.
“We’ve had a different entrance every year and that’s the hardest part of the show for us. We try to come up with an entrance that no one is going to expect.”
Audience participation
Every year the lads go out in the audience for a bit of banter, and if you’re attending don’t bother trying to hide. There are only about 200 seats in the theatre.
“Everybody gets slagged, try and hide but if we know you’re in the audience, we’ll find you. We have the lights rigged in such a way so that we’re able to see who’s out there and it’s not that big of a theatre.
“We’ve a couple of regulars, like one local teacher comes with her husband and her two kids and no matter what we’ll always get her. It’s always a bit of craic.”
Smash & Grab and The Seven Dwarfs will be in the Moat Theatre, Naas from 30 December to 11 January. For tickets and more information click here.