Manny – Comedy about an Irish Male Nanny

‘The Manny’, which was recently nominated for an off-west end award and sold out its entire Irish premiere run at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre in November 2023 and at The Viking Theatre, returns for a limited run in Ireland this summer, reports Ryan Butler.

The comedy, about an Irish male nanny who works for rich single mothers in West London, will run at the various theatres throughout April and May.

The Manny, which draws inspiration from McArdle’s own experience working as a male nanny, adheres to certain themes, including loneliness, a lack of connection, and the struggle to find a sense of belonging and purpose in a big city.

Manny is enjoying a Peter Pan-esque lifestyle of well-paid cash-in-hand work and settling for meaningless dates with women who harmonise

‘Happy Birthday’ with their eyes closed, just to disguise himself from the fact that he’s letting life go by without following any real purpose or allowing himself to really feel anything substantial or lasting.

Throughout the story, he meets Molly, an actress disillusioned with life, as she sells beetroot brownies in Borough Market, as opposed to playing Cleopatra on Broadway, and becomes an unlikely role model for Michael, a 7-year-old spoilt, seemingly irredeemable product of a loveless marriage.

All three characters face a potential future of unrequited dreams, and all three will have their lives changed by the events that occur.

This week, we sat down with Sam to discuss the show, which began its Irish tour at the start of this month and is coming to the Civic from April 30–May 4; tickets are on sale now, so don’t miss out!

I understand that the inspiration for “The Manny” came from your experiences working as a male nanny; tell us more about that!

So when I got out of drama school in London, I was looking for a job. I heard about this flexible, well-paid cash-on-hand work, so I did that for a couple of years.

It came at a really interesting time in my life. Dating apps started to replace more “traditional” ways of meeting people.

At the risk of sounding like a Hinge profile, looking after the kids kind of made me really think about what I’m saying in their presence and how I’m coming across in general.

A lot of the comedic elements of the play are drawn from that time in my life.

Then, a few years later, I ended up coming back to Dublin with my tail slightly between my legs.

I had been dropped by my agent and had done over 100 auditions while only doing three jobs.

I moved back into my parents spare bedroom, lost a lot of confidence, and quit acting completely.

I wasn’t in a great place for about 16 months. I ended up getting a 9-5 job, which gave me a lot of confidence. Then COVID hit.

I started thinking about “what could have been?” in acting, and instead of normally being hard on myself, I decided to start writing about the mad job I used to have, being a male ‘Mary Poppins”.

But added to that, I was probably looking to heal myself by writing about the uncertainty I was going through and that feeling of being lost in my early 30’s.

I ended up finishing the play, quitting my job, and moving back to London to kickstart my career.

Since then, we’ve been on this amazing journey with the show. We’ve played in some great theaters, written a TV pilot, and I’ve managed to get an agent again.

Were there any particular highlights or challenges that stood out to you?

There’ve been so many challenges. Money is the biggest challenge. I’m working three jobs to put it on.

Countless theaters have said no to us, but it’s nothing personal; you just have to keep going. No one says this business is easy.

In terms of highlights, there’ve been so many. We sold out Smock Alley just before Christmas last year, and it was a little emotional seeing family and friends there.

In November 2021, we did the first ever reading of it.

I hadn’t acted in over four years when we did it, so there was a sense of relief and the feeling that my old self had come back and that I had to go through a little journey to get back to where I was meant to be. I think the overall highlight is becoming someone who creates his own work instead of waiting by the phone.

There’s a sense of validation in that, and no matter what happens after we finish this tour, it’s been a great journey to go on and to get back my confidence.

Do you still get nervous when preparing to perform, and if so, how do you deal with that?

Yeah, and there are nerves in different ways. So when I first did the show, I hadn’t acted professionally in over four years.

So you just want to see if you can still do it or not.

When we did the show in Dublin last November, there weren’t any nerves.

It was more excitement, and I just couldn’t wait to share the story this time around.

We played our biggest London show at The Pleasance in March.

That’s probably the only show I was nervous for.

I may have put too much pressure on myself and ended up getting sick the week of the show and being bed-bound for a day before the final show, but it was just my body telling me to relax and calm down.

I needed to remember that with theatre, people only buy tickets at the last minute, and the sales come in at the last minute.

Much like that scene in Two Towers when Gandalf rushes in at the end to Helm’s Deep with all the reinforcements!

We ended up selling well there, and it was a success. So yeah, there are always nerves, but how I keep myself sane is through yoga and meditation.

What drew you to Tallaght as a performance space for the show?

There’s been so much good theater and good work out of the Civic over the years. It’s one of Ireland’s best theaters.

I always wanted to work there. Donal Shields, {Civic Theatre Director}, very kindly came to the show. He was someone I invited.

He’s got a great eye for putting on really great, exciting work. I always just wanted to play there.

Also, I used to play at Quasar back in the day at Leisureplex, pretending I was Hicks from Aliens! So it’ll also be nostalgic to go back there!

Where do you go from here?

We’re going to be bringing the show to the Whale Theater on May 17, which I’m really looking forward to; some tickets are still available.

I’d also love to bring the show abroad; there’s no set, just me on a chair, so it’s easily transportable.

I’ve also written a TV pilot about it and have the series planned out, so adapting it to screen is what I’ll concentrate on once we finish the Irish tour.

I’d love to do a large run in London too.