by Ronan Dempsey
Nth Degree Productions
Town Hall Studio, Galway
May 7, 2025
****
It was the height of summer, some years ago, in the beautiful town of Ballydehob, and the rain was coming down in sheets. We sank into the soggy grass as we trudged across the community park, all the while being bombarded from the heavens above.
In conditions such as these, the idea of going to see a play in a stretch tent was far from appealing. I had never heard of Ronan Dempsey before, nor had I any idea what his one-man show was about. We sat amongst a handful of others, shifting in our seats to try and find comfort, blowing on our fingers in the hope of regaining some feeling in them.
In his profoundly moving play The Words Are There, Dempsey speaks only a single line of dialogue over the course of an hour. We were all captivated as he used his body to tell the story, utilising methods presumably honed during his time at École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. The result was an agonisingly good piece of theatre which explores domestic abuse. The play toured extensively, eventually reaching London; considered by many in theatre to be the Holy Grail.
So you can only imagine my excitement at hearing that Dempsey's newest play, Mr Bergmann of Deadman's Point, was having its world premiere at The Town Hall Studio as part of Galway Theatre Festival.
The play is based on the mysterious death of an unidentified man in County Sligo, who went by the alias 'Peter Bergmann'. CCTV footage captured his movements in the days leading up to his death, but no one could ever make a positive ID. He went to great lengths to conceal his identity, even removing the tags from his clothing. The man's body was found on a beach in June, 2009.
What is clear from this memorable presentation is that Dempsey is a true maverick, who has little interest in doing things the conventional way. His list of works is short, suggesting an emphasis on quality over quantity, reinforced by the fact that The Words Are There has been running since 2017. In other words, there is no point in doing it unless it is going to be completely unique, which is certainly the case with Mr Bergmann of Deadman's Point.
Dempsey takes on dual roles as the unidentified man, and his embalmer, aptly named 'Balmy'. This was the first performance of the play, and it had all the problems of a preview: a dysfunctional light, a faulty tape recorder, and a sense that perhaps Dempsey was not always at his best, which is to be expected. But when he's on it, it truly is something to behold.
Never before have I left it so late in the day to make up my mind about a play. The jury was still out coming into the final furlong, but Balmy's venomous tirade toward the end is one of the most intense, potent pieces of acting I have experienced this year; his final message to his daughter before his demise, both heartfelt and heart-breaking in equal measure.
With this piece, one feels that perhaps Dempsey should now be discussed in the same vein as Pat Kinevane, Mikel Murfi and Seamus O'Rourke, known for bringing some of the most unforgettable one-man shows to the Irish stage over the past decade.
Truly a class act until the end, Dempsey waited out the prolonged applause in order to thank the audience for coming, asking us to spread the word if we enjoyed it. Hopefully this review will help in some way.
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